Entanglement
by kwirky
Summary: Danny's in trouble again, but will the team be able to help him? Will he wan them to? This is my first fic ever! It's really only rated T because of some violence. I do not own anything. Please read and review
1. Chapter 1

Hello!

My name is Ashley, and this is my first fic ever! I have been reading fics on this site for a while now, for CSI: NY and other shows, but this is the first time I have ever posted anything. Please review (although I'm not sure yet how to check any reviews I might receive). Feel free to comment, give advice, or boo me (although booing may be ignored if it does not come with some kind of advice on how to make the story better). However, if you do feel the need to boo at me, just realize that I'm not even out of high school yet, and sometimes words can hurt. ;)

I must say that out of all the wonderful and complex characters on the show, my favorite has to be Danny (who couldn't love that Staten Island wit and puppy-dog face?). I also must admit that, for some odd reason, I love to see Danny be tormented, either physically or emotionally. I dunno, maybe I'm just weird. I always found that the fan fictions that I was most most interested in usually had Danny in some sort of distress.

Right now, I'm not sure if this will have any ships in it. It may have some DL, but I'm not yet sure if I can even write any kind of romance. I guess we'll see….

Before you read, I should probably tell you that I DO NOT have a Beta, which means there may be grammatical errors. I try my hardest to get rid of them but some of them manage to elude my watchful eye.

PS.- I have never attempted to write dialogue before, so if you do review, could you tell me your thoughts and advice? Thanks

I hope you enjoy it!

**_Entanglement_**

**CHAPTER ONE**

It was a quiet night in the lab that evening, a rarity to say the least. There had been no homicides, no rapes, and no burglaries. And to be honest the investigators were quite bored.

First grade detective Mac Taylor sat in his office. One was clearly able to see the many frames hanging from the clear glass walls. They showed diplomas, certificates, awards, and probably most notable, the many shadow boxes holding military pins and medals. The detective was going through the short stack of cold case files on the corner of his desk. He had explained to many people that on a slow day, much like today, he would crack open one of those files and re-examine the evidence, just in case something had been missed. It was just the kind of man he was.

Stella Bonesara sat in the break room, lounging on the sofa. She was snacking on a power bar, while going over her notes for an upcoming trial. It was a clean-cut case, the bastard was definitely going to jail, but she liked to be prepared. Much like her supervisor, Stella would often go over bits and pieces of information, looking for anything that could further her knowledge on a subject.

Lindsay Munroe, the new investigator from Bozeman, or 'Montana' as Danny had so quickly come to call her, was also in the break room, sitting at the small table near the door way. Seeing as how she was still labeled with the title of 'the new girl', Lindsay felt the need to continue to prove herself, not only to her boss, but to the rest of the investigators and lab techs as well. This is why she was currently thumbing through a slightly out of date forensics text book, scanning for any information that she might have missed or forgotten since her days in college. One never knows when an out of date procedure could break a case.

Doctor Sid Hammerback and Doctor Sheldon Hawkes were both in the morgue. Since there had been no homicides of late, there were no bodies to examine, and so both doctors also were fighting boredom. Sid had pulled out a deck of cards from his secret stash and had started a game of poker with Hawkes. Of course, gambling is against the law in the state of New York, so instead of using money, the two men bet with jelly beans, grapes, and whatever else they could pull from their lunches. They both silently prayed that Mac would not suddenly walk in. Sinclair or Hilbourne, they could handle, but Mac Taylor was just plain scary when he got mad.

Adam Ross, the jumpy, yet brilliant lab tech was in the AV lab (silently rocking out with his Ipod). Although he had only just joined the day shift team, Adam had become somewhat of a jack of all trades. It didn't matter whether one needed DNA analyzed or trace identified; Adam was the one to go to. Despite this, his true calling still seemed to lie with electronics. Phones, computers, videos, If it had an electronic pulse running through it, there was a good chance that Adam knew how to fix, restore, or break through its firewalls, if it required some sort of pass code (which it usually did).

All of the detectives found themselves thinking, at some point during the day, how fortunate Detective Messer was that today was his day off. Instead of being stuck at work, nearly drowning in the boredom, he got to stay home, probably sleeping in. The smaller dirty blonde haired detective sure was lucky.

* * *

Danny Messer had gotten up at around noon, which was actually quite early for a day off. Shortly after that he'd had a champion's breakfast of Reese's peanut butter cups, stale toast and day old coffee. After that, he had realized that his kitchen was almost bare of actual edible food, so he got dressed and went out to get some groceries, silently promising himself that he would get more then just junk food.

Some time later, Danny exited the grocery store, happy with his selection of semi-healthy foods. He decided not to take the subway or a cab. If he was eating healthier (kind of), then he might as well get some extra exercise as well. Unfortunately, as he was walking off in the general direction of his apartment building, he did not see the cold grey pair of eyes following his every move.

As Danny turned into alley, he heard a slight rustle behind him. He turned around immediately.

Nothing was there.

Danny scoffed at himself, "Pfft…. gettin' paranoid".

He continued on his way. He could just barely see the roof of his apartment building over the ocean of other structures.

There was another rustle behind him.

He turned around again. "Who's there?" Danny asked, slightly disturbed. His voice giving away that he was indeed nervous. "Seriously, man, if there's anyone there you need to-"

All of a sudden there was a loud scuffle, coming from his left. He turned to it quickly, only to see the butt of a gun coming down on his head.

CSI: NY

I know it's kinda short, but to be honest, it looked a lot longer on Word.

I have already written most of the next chapter, and will hopefully continue to update every couple of days. If I don't, just assume that I am overwhelmed with English homework (Hamlet… bleh) and wait patiently until the weekend. If I don't update by _then,_just assume that I too was murdered and pray that my crime scene investigator is as hot as Danny Messer. lol

Also, please call me kwirky. It's not so much that I don't like Ashley, it's just that kwirky fits my personality so well :P

Anyways,…. Reviews please


	2. Chapter 2

Just a little note:

"......." means regular dialogue

'.......' means thughts

and italics means flashbacks or dreams (it will be labeled which one is which)

-

**CHAPTER TWO**

The next morning, Stella and Lindsay were called to a scene of a homicide. Detective Don Flack had called them saying that the death was 'suspicious' and that they should get there right away.

"Could Flack be any more vague?" asked Stella, looking at Lindsay, in the passenger seat. She was slightly amused and slightly frustrated.

"Oh, I don't know," replied Lindsay, "he could have just said that_ something_ happened and hung up." She said this with just a touch of sarcasm in her voice. Stella still intimidated her just the slightest bit.

Stella chuckled, "Yeah. Actually, I think he did do that before. He was completely wired on coffee and didn't seem to understand that the people around him were _not_ psychic and therefore, could _not_ understand what he was thinking."

Lindsay let out a hearty laugh at that. "Yeah, sadly, after the few times I've met Flack, I must say, that does not actually surprise me very much."

Both women were laughing good-heartedly, at the expense of Donald Flack by the time they arrived at the crime scene. As they climbed out of the department issued SUV, both CSIs looked over and saw the tall, dark haired detective waiting patiently for them, and neither of them could help but let out one more small giggle, before putting on their serious faces for the task at hand.

Flack eyed them suspiciously as they walked toward him, kits in hand.

"What was that about?" asked Flack, his curiosity more then obvious.

"What?" asked Stella, acting confused.

"That look you shared with Munroe here", he gestured at Lindsay, "right after you guys looked at me."

We have no idea what you're talking about Flack" said Stella. She put her most innocent face on then, looking at Lindsay, said "Do we?"

"No, of course not" she said, holding back a grin.

"Ya know what? I don't even wanna know" said Flack, although, he was still slightly worried about what the two female investigators could have been talking about. 'Could Stella have been telling Lindsay that it was me and Danny who put that cat in her locker? Nah, Stella wouldn't betray our trust', Flack smirked at the memory. "Anyways," Flack came back to reality, "we got two dead bodies. We identified one as an Ashley Macafee, but the other one is still a Jane Doe. Hawkes was here earlier. He said it looks like blunt force trauma for Ashley Macafee, but he would need to examine her at the lab to be certain. Our Jane Doe seemed to stump him. He said there were no visible signs of foul play, but further examination was definitely needed." Flack read this all off from the small notepad which he kept with him at all times.

Lindsay and Stella took in the crime scene. It appeared to be a parking lot for the adjacent office buildings. Shiny, expensive cars were lined up in the parking spots. The victims laid at about the center of the lot, approximately four feet from each other. The first vic, the one identified as Ashley Macafee was about five foot seven. She had light brown hair, with blond streaks framing her face. One could tell almost instantly that, when she had been alive, Ashley had been quite the tom-boy. Her t-shirt screamed the name 'ACDC' and she wore overly baggy blue jeans. She appeared to still be in her teens, sixteen, _maybe _seventeen. She was still just a child. Most notably, however, was the lack of make-up. At that age (especially in New York) most girls wouldn't be caught dead outside without at least a little bit of foundation.

Stella found herself wondering if this poor girl had had trouble fitting in, in today's society. Lindsay was reminded of herself at that age. Although she would not have been classified as an 'outcast' in high school, she too had shied away from the societal norms, and because of that she'd had more than one preppy jock or cheerleader tease her.

It looked as though she had simply fallen, and was now asleep, except for the large patch of dried blood congealed in the hair on the back of her head. There was also a small amount of blood on the bumper of silver Benz, parked a small distance away.

Had it not been for the Jane Doe laying next to her, Ashley Macafee's death may have been written off as an accident.

The unidentified girl, looking to be only slightly older than Ashley, also appeared to have simply fallen asleep on the cold asphalt. There were no visible markings on her body. She appeared to have the same basic traits as Ashley, only she seemed to prefer the color pink to Pink Floyd.

Both Stella and Lindsay had started to process when Flack chimed in, "Hey has either of you ladies heard from Messer? Mac said that he was gonna call him in on this case too, seein' as how there still ain't no other cases."

Lindsay beat Stella with an answer, "Well, yesterday was his day off, so I wouldn't be too surprised if he was lying on his couch, nursing a hangover." Lindsay loved to poke fun at Danny almost as much as he loved to poke fun at her. And since Sid had suggested to her that Danny called her 'Montana' because he had a crush on her, the light banter had become more frequent. So much so that the rest of the team was beginning to take notice.

"Well, if he doesn't show up, we can just yell at him when we get back to the lab.", Stella said, "This definitely looks like a murder, and Danny should be here if Mac told him to be, although I kind of doubt he went out drinking last night. Danny isn't _that _stupid."

Flack let out a bark of laughter, "I dunno, remember a while back, me an' him were chasin' that weirdo, Shane Casey. This freak goes an' jumps from one buildin' to another usin' the fire escapes, and what does Messer do? He does the same exact thing! I mean I understand that he didn't wanna let him get away, but he nearly didn't make it. I got there just in time to see him hangin' on the side of the stupid thing, we were probably like ten stories up, an' I thought he was gonna fall!" Flack appeared to be getting upset just at the memory of his best friend's most recent escapade.

Stella realized this and spoke up, "Alright, Don, we get it, Danny _is _that stupid, but do you really think he would risk his job, just to have a night out on the town?"

"Nah, I guess not" replied Flack, half-heartedly. Despite his tough Detective façade, Donald Flack jr. was a bit of a softie. That's not to say he was prone to getting teary eyed at crime scenes, just that he cared about his close friends' well-beings. Danny, Mac, Stella, even Hawkes and that slightly creepy pathologist, Sid- Hell, he had only known Detective Munroe for a few months now and he felt protective of her. If anyone were to impose any sort of harm on his close friends, everyone knew that there would be hell to pay for whoever caused it.

* * *

-

For another three hours, Stella and Lindsay processed the scene, collecting anything that could lead to a suspect while Flack stood watch. The dark haired homicide detective found himself constantly looking over his shoulder, waiting for Danny to arrive, a slight frown on his face.

Stella called the coroner's assistant over, "You can take both bodies now, but be very careful with both, we don't want to lose any evidence that may still be present."

"Yes ma'am" said the assistant, diligently placing the vics in the black body bags. Stella and Lindsay supervised as the bodies were lifted onto the gurneys and carted off to the coroners van.

"All right," said Stella, "Let's go rip Danny a new one for leaving us on our own."

Lindsay had to smirk at that. If anyone were to reprimand Danny, it would be Mac. He seemed to play the role of the strict, yet caring father for their dysfunctional family. Stella was actually more like the mother hen. Although one might see more of a mother eagle at times, protecting her young with such ferocity. Continuing with the metaphor, Danny and Lindsay would be the two youngest children, Flack would be the older brother, and Hawkes and Sid would probably be the weird, but lovable uncles. And then there was Adam, who would probably be the jumpy, eclectic cousin.

"Alright, let's roll" said Lindsay, still sporting a slight smirk.

CSI: NY


	3. Chapter 3

You know I was going to wait until tomorrow to post this, but I'm so excited about actually getting reviews that I had to post it now. It's short, but it's all I have written right now that I am comfortable sharing right now.

I'd like to thank **Lindsay1234** and **FearlessZara **for my first reviews _ever. _Thank you so much. :)

-

**CHAPTER THREE**

It was now early evening and the lab was still relatively calm, with only one current homicide to work on.

Mac sat at his desk going over Lindsay and Stella's case. At first glance, it appeared like some sort of weird accident. Ashley fell, hit her head, and died, but then what was the Jane Doe doing there too? It was turning out to be a rather complicated case for everyone involved. There had been very little evidence at the scene, suggesting that maybe it was a secondary crime scene. The Parking lot was only a place to dump the bodies, but why dump two bodies in a place with so much traffic? Criminals confused Mac, they just didn't act logically.

There was a knock at the door. Mac looked up to see his employee and friend, Stella Bonesara walk in. The smile he found himself wearing quickly faded as he saw how frustrated Stella looked.

"What's going on?" he asked.

Stella's expression stayed the same, "Did you call Danny to tell him to help Lindsay and me at the scene this morning?"

Mac raised an eyebrow, "Yes, well, actually no. I left him a message, but you know him, he checks his voice mail at least a dozen times a day. I thought he would get the message and head over there. Why? Did he not show up?"

"No, he didn't," she said, "and I'm getting a bit worried. I called him three times in the last couple of hours and I know Flack tested him a few times on the ride back from the scene. Neither of us has gotten a reply. And it's not because his cell is turned off. You can hear it ringing before it goes to voice mail. He's just not picking up." She sounded frustrated with just a touch of worry mixed in with her voice.

"Damnit" he muttered to himself. Mac, though he was worried, tried to hide his momentary distress. Although he would never inform his superiors of this, Danny was kind of a loose cannon. If he truly and deeply believed something, especially involving a case, he would often go off and try to prove his theory, ignoring protocol. Not to say that this was a bad characteristic of a scientist. Scientists were supposed to bend the rules. That's how one furthered their knowledge on a subject. This personality trait was, however, quite worrisome in a police officer. Ambition was a must, and Danny definitely had that, but lack of inhibition and impulsiveness was usually frowned upon. Despite that, Danny's hunches usually paid off in one way or another, which is why Mac had trouble showing Danny how dangerous it was to go off on his own when the results were so often in their favor. Danny always seemed to be quite lucky in that department.

But maybe not today... Maybe today, his luck had changed.

After a few more seconds of deep thought, Mac came to a decision. "Stella, take Flack and give Danny's apartment a visit. If he's asleep on his couch with a hangover, get him looking presentable and send him to see me. If he's not there... well, then call me and we'll go from there."

Stella approved of how decisive Mac was being. "Sounds like a good plan to me. Do you know where Flack is right now?" Stella wanted to get going as soon as possible.

"He should be in the precinct, at his desk." he said.

"Thanks." Stella said as she left the office.

* * *

-

Don was also sitting at his desk going over paperwork. Many people failed to realize how many forms a homicide detective had to fill out on a daily basis. Each arrest on its own required a minimum of about thirty pages, filled out and signed, and that was only for the regular criminals. Murderers, rapists, and other criminals whose capture required the assistance of the crime lab called for another thirty pages.

Flack was startled from his concentrated staring contest with the piece of paper by Stella knocking lightly on his desk.

'Thank god,' he thought, 'a distraction.'

"Hey Don," Stella said tentatively, "I'm not interrupting you am I?"

"Well, actually, you kinda are, but trust me, it's a very welcome distraction" Flack took a good look at Stella. Her forehead was creased, the way it always was when she got nervous or upset. Stella, like Mac, was also very good at controlling her emotions, when necessary, but Flack was one of the few people who had figured out her tell. "What's up?" he asked casually.

"You're coming with me to Danny's place. He still has yet to show up to work and he hasn't returned any of my messages. I told Mac. He said to go and just make sure everything is alright."

"Do think somethin's happened?" asked Flack, worry creeping in to voice and quite visible in his facial features.

"That's what we're going to find out." she said, determined, "Come on, get up."

Flack immediately obeyed, stopping only to grab his badge, gun, and his favorite coat.

Flack tried to lighten the mood, "So what are you guys gonna do to him if Lindsay's theory about him bein' hung over is actually true?" he forced a smirk onto his face, trying to hide his worry.

"Well, that's why I brought my gun" she said, only half kidding.

'Man,' Flack thought 'you better be pretty sick or somethin', Danny, because if your not, you're gonna be wishin' you were never born.'

-

I forgot to mention, yes, I _did _name one of the victims after myself. Kinda creepy isn't it? :) :) :)

Just so you know, the next chapter will have some Danny in it. :)

Please review


	4. Chapter 4

Happy Easter!! :)

-

-

**CHAPTER FOUR**

He was currently wishing that he had never been born.

Consciousness was slowly returning to him.

His world, though still dark, was filled with many different pains. Dull pains, sharp pains, shooting pains, and other pains that were just too agonizing to be described in words. The simple act of breathing made him want to weep.

'Where the hell am I?' he thought to himself, hazily. This place was definitely not his apartment and what he was laying on was most certainly not his bed. The last thing he remembered was leaving his apartment. He couldn't recall exactly _where _he had been going, but he could clearly remember walking out of his apartment, turning to lack the door and walking toward the elevator. Then... Nothing. 'Why can't I remember?' he asked himself.

Danny tried to open his eyes, but found that his lids felt like they were made out of lead. His limbs felt much the same.

The he realized that his hands were bound behind his back. The bonds seemed to have been tied with thick coarse rope. Danny could feel the rough material dig into his skin. He also felt a similar rope tied tightly around his ankles, cutting off the circulation

Despite that, he tried to wiggle his arms to see if he might be able to free himself.

He was barely able to keep himself from screaming in agony as he felt the pain tear through his shoulder and ribcage.

'Focus.' he told himself. Danny tried to clear his head and assess his injuries. He still was not able to open his eyes, but based on the several points on his body that were radiating sharp pains, he could take a few guesses as to how bad it really was. 'I gotta have at least a couple broken ribs' he surmised, 'or possibly even a bruised lung... that's not good.'

After a few more moments, Danny had put together a list of his injuries; cracked ribs, dislocated shoulder, concussion, the severity of which was impossible to determine, but he was pretty certain it was more than just a little bump to the head, and, based on the dull pain radiating throughout his body, significant bruising covering most of his chest, along with miscellaneous bruised and lacerations an his arms and legs.

He was beginning to panic. Attempting to calm himself, Danny took a deep breath, or at least he tried to.

He was unable to hold in the whimper of pain as he felt like his torso was being ripped in two.

Danny's consciousness was threatening to leave him once again when he suddenly heard voice.

"Hey Tom, I think our Danny-boy is startin' to wake up" the man's voice, though heard through a haze immediately made something click in Danny's head. He knew that accent. It was very similar to the accent that coated his own voice whenever he spoke, becoming thicker when he was angry or upset. It was about the thickest, roughest Staten Island accent he had ever heard.

"Yeah, so?" This voice also had a pronounced Staten Island accent, but not nearly as thick as the first. It also sounded significantly smoother than the first voice, as though the man was much younger. "What's yer point, Mickey?" He sounded slightly irritated, but calm. And it sounded kind of familiar.

With his concussed mind, Danny found himself thinking that had he not been tied up and severely beaten, he may have felt right at home with these people. They grew up on the same streets as he did.

"Well, shouldn't we, ya know, keep 'im unconscious, or whatever?"

'This Tom guy seems to be the one in charge at the moment' thought Danny. His mind was just now recovering from the sudden burst of pain that deep breathing had caused.

Danny's heart sank at what was uttered next.

"Yeah sure, knock 'im out again, but don't kill 'im. We still need 'im right now."

Danny frantically tried to open his eyes so that he could defend himself from this thug, Mickey. He heard some one clattering around as if they were looking for something. Shortly after that, he heard some one walking closer to where he was lying.

At the last minute, Danny's eyes snapped open, just in time to see a white cloth coming down over his mouth.

He was just barely able to make out the faces of his two captors before the chloroform began to take effect. Mickey was a big, slightly over-weight man, probably in his late thirties. Glancing across the roo, Danny was only able to make out this 'Tom' person's eyes

He recognized those cold, slate grey orbs.

The surprise of recognition was the last thing his mind registered before his already blurred vision began to swim into darkness. Then there was nothing.

* * *

-

Don and Stella felt slightly awkward as they rode the elevator up to Danny's floor. They had both been inside Danny's apartment before on more than one occasion, but this was different. Danny hadn't invited them over; in fact, they were basically breaking into his place. What if he was just sick and this was all just some big misunderstanding? What if Danny was layin' on his couch right now, in just his boxers, watching the game and trying to fight off the flu?

Stella and Don stopped right nest to each other in front of Danny's door. Flack gave Stella a sidelong glance, only to find Stella doing the same to him.

Both of them sighed.

Then without instruction, Stella slipped a small leather case from her pocket and knelt down in front of the doorknob ready to go to work.

As Stella picked the lock, Flack stood guard, keeping an eye out for nosy neighbors. He looked down at Stella, "I still can't believe you know how to pick locks _and_ you got your own kit. Do you have a secret life you ain't tellin' us about?" He was trying to keep the mood somewhat light as they broke into their friend's apartment.

"Actually, Danny gave me the kit" They both laughed at the irony. They were using the kit _he_ gave her to get into _his own _apartment. Stella continued, "We had been working this case with a burglary and I naively said that it had to be an inside job, because there was no way that some one could pick the locks on this one door. It wasn't electronic or anything, but it had _four_ different complicated looking locks. Danny looked over at me and said 'you wanna bet?' I had only just met Danny, how was I supposed to know that picking locks was a skill that he had acquired as a child? So, he asked for my bobby pins and got on his knees in front of the door. He had the first lock open in two minutes flat. He had the other three unlocked in less then five. So I had to pay him a hundred dollars. Guess what he bought with some of that money."

"The kit" said Flack.

"Yeah, and later that night, after most of the day shift team had left, he taught me how to do it too. We sat on the floor in front of Mac's office with some snacks and the kit. It took me two hours before I finally got it open. After that, we went down to the morgue, practicing some more on the locks down there. It was a great night." Stella smiled at the memory, while still trying to concentrate on what she was doing. Finding each tumbler and nudging it in to the correct place.

"Is Mac aware of this skill that you now both possess?" Flack asked, looking at her with a curious expression.

Stella laughed out loud at that. "No... And he won't be learning any time soon either," she looked pointedly at Don, "will he?"

Flack grinned, shaking his head, "Of course not." He had forgotten for just a moment why they were there.

Both of them flinched when they heard the soft click of the tumblers in the lock falling into position.

"Got it." Stella said, smirking slightly.

Flack smiled at her as he helped her back to her feet.

"Okay... well, it's now or never" said Flack, yanking the door open.

They both walked in.

They were astonished at what they met their eyes.

-

DUN DUN DUN :)

Are you guys liking the little stories everyone keeps telling about Danny? I don't know if it's working, but I'm just trying to show that they all love Danny, and they want him back.

Please review :)


	5. Chapter 5

Just so you guys know, my writing style seems to shift a lot. Some days I will put in a lot of humor (or at least what I consider humor) and some days my writing is so dark it scares my friends. ...Just a warning

Also, just to clear things up, this fic is set in early season three. I'm not sure exactly when, but it is before 'Run Silent, Run Deep' (Great episode, by the way), and after 'Zoo York', in which Lindsay is first introduced. I'm sorry if I make references to episodes that occur later, but I get confused pretty often about which episode happened when.

Hope you enjoy it!

-

-

**CHAPTER FIVE**

Danny's apartment was an absolute mess. Tables were overturned, chairs had been thrown about. It looked as though some one had been going through the drawers. Each one was pulled out, their contents strewn all over. Even the couch cushions had been slashed open. It was obvious to anyone that the place had been ransacked.

"Oh, God," said Flack, "we shoulda come earlier. Why did we hafta wait so long?" The concern was now leaking through Don's usual tough detective mask.

Stella tried to stop her heart from racing. She began walking through all the clutter toward the kitchen. "Come on Flack, look around, he might still be here." Flack did as Stella instructed. He actually found himself hoping they didn't find him there. If he _was_ still there, then there was a good chance that he was dead. Suddenly, Flack was praying to himself that Danny was anywhere but in that apartment.

Stella went toward the kitchen as Flack headed in the direction of the bedroom. It was a small apartment and besides the bathroom and a closet, it really only consisted of those three rooms.

Flack found himself pausing before entering the room. Danny was a pretty private person. It felt almost wrong to be invading Danny's home and going through his things. He pushed the thought out of his mind, as he pushed open the door and walked in. Immediately, Don noticed Danny's dresser had had its drawers ripped out and rifled through, much like the rest of the apartment. The mattress was thrown to the side and the spring box of the bed had been ripped open.

'What the hell were these people lookin' for?' he thought.

Stella found the kitchen to be in about the same condition as the living room. Furniture knocked over and drawers emptied onto the floor. Careful not disturb anything, she tip-toed over the broken dishes and cooking utensils littering the ground. She opened the cupboards and fridge, looking for evidence of _anything _that was out of place. It struck her as odd that they were completely empty as well. And there didn't appear to be any food thrown on the ground.

"Hey Flack, did you find anything?" Stella yelled so Flack could hear her through the walls.

"Nope, nothin'." he said, standing right behind her.

Stella jumped. She had not known the tall detective was right behind her. It just showed her how nervous she really was.

Not noticing Stella jump, Flack continued, "How 'bout you?"

"Well, it's kind of weird... It looks as though whoever did this also took all of Danny's food. Why would they do that?" Stella asked.

Flack let out a small chuckle, "Actually, that's pretty normal. His kitchen can get pretty barren sometimes. He told me once he hates shoppin', even if it's just for groceries. So when he starts to get low on food, he usually waits to go shoppin' 'til he absolutely has to."

Stella snorted, "Yeah that sounds like our Danny." She didn't mean it as an insult to the dirty blonde haired investigator. They weren't saying Danny was lazy, far from it actually; just that he had quite a stubborn streak. For the most part, if Danny Messer didn't want to do something, then trying to get him to do it was like trying to perform a root canal on an already irritated mule. It was incredibly difficult and kind of a stupid thing to try to do.

Flack paused, thinking for a moment, "Maybe this means that he wasn't here when..." Flack corrected himself, "_If _he was kidnapped. Maybe he was goin' to or comin' from the grocery store? By the looks of it, he definitely had to go today, unless he wanted to starve tonight. Plus, lookin' at this place, it doesn't really look like there was any sorta struggle. I looks more like the place was just robbed" he added after a moment, "although I doubt the break-in and his goin' missin' ain't connected."

They both looked around. From where they were standing, they could see most of the apartment. They saw Danny's beloved baseball memorabilia, also scattered about on the ground. They saw Danny's favorite leather jacket, miraculously still hanging up on the hook by the door. They saw picture frames, with shattered glass showing photographs of Danny and his parents, Danny, in his uniform, the day he graduated from the academy, and several pictures showing Danny with the team, mostly candid shots of them at Sullivan's. Stella noted that one of the frames appeared to be missing its photograph.

They saw all of this, but still no Danny and no clues as to where he might be.

Stella flipped her cell phone open. "I need to call Mac. He needs to put out a missing persons on Danny and we need some people here to process." she looked over at Don and saw the worry lining his face, "Don't worry, Flack, we'll find him."

* * *

-

Mac Taylor was frustrated... and upset... and angry... and a plethora of other emotions.

The day shift supervisor had just received a call from a very worried Stella. Danny's apartment was empty and had been broken into. 'Where the hell are you, Danny?' thought Mac. At the same time, Mac was almost grateful that Stella and Don had not found Danny's dead body at his apartment. He tried to shake that morbid thought from his head.

He had called in a missing persons and sent a couple CSIs to process Danny's apartment. Except for the few people he had talked to in the last ten minutes, no one else knew that Danny was missing yet. The missing persons report would soon be broadcasted over police scanners, but he didn't think the rest of the team should hear the news that way. He knew he would enjoy telling the rest of the team. He didn't want to upset them. Hawkes had gotten somewhat closer to Danny after he confided in him that his uncle had died, and even more so when Danny fiercely defended him from Michael Elgers, the neo-Nazi, who had been a suspect in a recent case. Sid, though he had never had all that much contact with Danny, seemed to care deeply for every single member of their team. And when he _had _seen Danny and Sid together, Mac thought that they always seemed so relaxed with each other, joking around (although it was usually over the corpse of a murder victim). Adam seemed to look up to Danny as an older brother of sorts. The less than confident lab tech seemed to need some one to lean on, and despite his many personality quirks, Danny seemed to be just the person to cheer Adam up. And then there was Lindsay. Mac saw the way that they fought and bantered, trading barbed comments. The only reason he had let it continue was because he saw something else there too. Something that could eventually grow into something wonderful. Plus, the entire lab found it quite amusing to watch the two investigators' verbal battles. He had even heard of a couple bets being pooled on when they would get together. He was tempted to participate, but he was more cautious of protocol then most.

No, he definitely was not looking forward to telling them

He was not able to ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach. He just had this feeling that Danny was _not_ okay. And it was making him sick.

'Maybe I should go over there and help with the scene. It will make me feel like I'm doing something to help.' he thought.

His decision made, Mac got up, grabbing his gun, badge, and kit before leaving his office.

Before he went, however, he had a few people to talk to.

* * *

-

Mac was surprised to see everyone he needed to talk to in the break room. Lindsay, Adam, Sheldon, even Sid, who rarely came up from the morgue. They looked like they were all taking their lunches together. It seemed like they were all having a good time too. They all had smiles on their faces, as if some one had just told a good joke. He felt bad that he was going to ruin their happy moods, but they needed to be informed of the current situation so that they might be able to help.

"Hey, guys?" Mac said, for the first time in a long time, sounding just a little bit nervous. All their heads turned toward him.

"Hey Mac, you wanna join us?" asked Adam, oblivious to the Mac's serious tone.

"What's going on Mac? Is there a problem?" Adam may have missed it, but Sid had a knack for reading people. Which was strange, considering the field he had chosen to go into.

Mac sighed, "Guys, I have some bad news," he paused again, 'Just say it' he told himself, "Danny..." he sighed again, "Danny is missing... He was supposed to come in this morning, but he didn't show. Stella got worried when he didn't answer any of her calls. She and Don went over to his apartment to check on him. Some one had broken in. There was no sign of Danny." Mac let out yet another sigh as he felt everyone's mood darken.

Without a second thought, Lindsay spoke up, "What can we do, Mac?"

Mac smiled just a bit at Lindsay's desire to help. Many people had thought at first that Lindsay's eagerness was just something she did to try and impress her superiors, but Mac and the rest of his team had quickly come to realize that it was just how she was. It was a wonderful trait to have in a CSI, however, much like Danny's impulsiveness, Lindsay's gung ho attitude could one day get her into trouble.

"Right now, we can't do much. We currently have no information to use to try and find Danny yet. I have already called in a missing persons report and CSIs have been sent to process Danny's home. Hawkes, Sid, Adam," he looked at each one of them as he said their names, "you guys need to stay in the lab. I'm sure you all want to help, but you're allowed to go into the field, plus we need you here so that when evidence_ is_ found, you'll be ready to analyze it. While you wait, you can look over Danny's past cases. Look to see if anyone threatened him, or maybe try to find some one who was recently released from prison, who may have some sort of vendetta. Anything suspicious" Adam and Sid nodded their understanding. Hawkes spoke up.

"Mac, that could be a very long list. Danny has put a lot of guys away, and this might not even have anything to do with one of his past cases."

"I know that, Sheldon," he replies gently, "but it's still one of the few things we can do right now." Mac turned to Lindsay, "Lindsay, since you are permitted to go into the field, I would like you to go over to Danny's place with me and help out. Flack and Stella are already there along with a couple other CSIs from the night shift. You can leave with out me, it would be better if we both had separate vehicles" Lindsay nodded, getting up and quickly leaving to get her kit.

"Where, uh... where do think Danny is, Mac? Do you think some one has taken him hostage or something?" Adam asked, once again his jumpy, nervous self.

"I don't know Adam. I really have no idea. What worries me most is not that we won't find any possible suspects, but that once we have a list of them, we won't be able to figure out who did this. Like Hawkes said, Danny has made a lot of potential enemies over the last few years."

Sid, Adam, and Hawkes nodded their heads grimly an agreement.

"Okay," said Sid, "Let's get to it."

The four men nodded once more before heading in different directions. Adam, to the nearest computer, to search for any convicts that had recently been released who may have held some sort of grudge against Danny. Hawkes and Sid quickly made their way to the storage room where hard copies of all case files were kept. They planned to look through each and every one thoroughly, looking for anyone that may have threatened Danny. Mac found himself walking towards the large glass doors of the entrance of the lab. Lindsay had already left for Danny's place, so Mac climbed into his own car, turned on the siren and drove off, worry lining his face.

-

More will be revealed about Danny's captors in the next chapter

Please review :) :)


	6. Chapter 6

Hope you enjoy it!

-

**CHAPTER SIX**

Danny once again found himself waking up with a hazy mind.

Light crept into his vision as he opened his eyes just a crack.

As Danny's head cleared slowly, he realized that he was actually able to open his eyes. After further thought, Danny concluded that the reason he had been unable to open his eyes before was because they had been swollen shut, due to the beating he had obviously taken, although he couldn't remember it. Now, however, he could feel the dull throbbing and tightness in his face, making it hard to keep his eyes open only adding to Danny's frustration was the fact that his glasses were missing. Even though he could open his eyes now, everything was still slightly blurry.

This time, Danny was smart. He stayed as still as possible, not making a sound, careful to keep his breathing slow, not only to avoid any extra pain, but also to avoid alerting those two thugs, Mick and Tom of his awaking.

Through barely cracked open eyes, Danny looked around, gathering as much information as he could. His training as a cop and CSI was taking over. 'Mac would be so proud' he thought. His hands and feet were still bound. He appeared to be on an air mattress. 'How considerate of them' he thought, sarcastically. Without moving his head, he analyzed as much of the room as he could. From what he could tell, those goons were currently elsewhere, but Danny still didn't want to risk moving a muscle. He could here car motors, honking and even the occasional shout, so he knew he was still in the city. Danny noted the cement walls and floors. Either his captors had discovered a real life dungeon in New York City, or they were in some sort of cellar or basement, which was also somewhat of a rarity. Very few structures in the city had basements. He could see small windows, high up on the walls, letting the smallest amounts of light in. It was starting to get dark outside. Looking elsewhere, Danny saw, out of his periphery a card table with three folding chairs around it.

'Why are there three chairs?' he thought, 'Are Mick and Tom not doing this on their own?' Suddenly, thinking about his kidnappers made Danny's mind click. Right before they drugged him God only knew how many hours ago, he had seen Tom's cold dead eyes.

He would recognize those eyes anywhere. He had seen them almost every day during his childhood.

* * *

-

Despite Lindsay's earlier departure, she and Mac arrived at Danny's place at around the same time. They climbed out of their vehicles, grabbed their kits and walked purposefully toward the apartment building.

As they got into the elevator, Lindsay looked over at Mac. "You know, I've never actually been to Danny's place before. He has invited me a couple times to come over and have some of what he calls his 'world famous traditional Italian spaghetti', but I've never gone; I always already had plans."

Mac smiled at Lindsay. He understood that she was worried about Danny and was only trying to fill the silence. He played along, "Well, when this is all figured out, you should really take him up on his offer. I've had that spaghetti, and he is _not_ exaggerating. According to him, his mother believed that before any son of hers was allowed to live on his own, he needed to know how to feed himself. So, she gave him her own recipes. I swear, if Danny hadn't decided to become a CSI, he could have made quite a lot of money being a chef." He saw Lindsay smile, slightly wide-eyed at the idea of Danny being an excellent cook. "Okay, so it's settled, when we get Danny back, we will be informing him that as punishment for scaring us all so much, he is making the whole team an authentic Italian dinner." Lindsay let out a soft giggle at the finality in Mac's voice. They both decided not to think about what might happen if they weren't able to get Danny back.

The elevator dinged and they both stepped off, Mac leading the way as they got nearer to the correct door. Lindsay knew immediately which apartment was Danny's. The door was wide open with yellow crime scene tape tied across it. Two burly beat cops stood guard, making sure that no one disturbed the investigators as the worked. She could see Don and Stellla just inside the door way.

Seeing Lindsay and Mac, Stella ducked under the crime scene tape and walked toward them, with Flack trailing behind her. Unshed tears were visible in Stella's eyes, although she stubbornly kept them at bay. Flack, at first glance appeared quite calm, but when one looked closely, one could see the anger, worry, and a minutia of other complex emotions swirling around in his bright cerulean eyes.

"I'm so glad you guys are here." said Stella. Then getting right to the point, "From what we've seen so far, it doesn't look like Danny was taken from here, there's no evidence of an actual struggles even though it looks like a tornado went through there." she motioned over her shoulder to Danny's apartment, pausing before going on, "Flack thinks that he was probably taken en route to or from the grocery store. He's asking around, trying to see if anyone knows where Danny gets his groceries. That way we can retrace his steps and possibly find exactly where he was taken from." Stella let out a sigh.

Mac nodded, "That sounds like a good idea Stella,' looking over to Lindsay, he said "Lindsay, why don't you join Don? If you find out where he might have gone, go straight there to look for any clues, but make sure you call me or Stella to let us know."

Lindsay nodded and walked off in search of Don, happy to be doing something productive.

Turning his attention back to the woman in front of him, Mac asked "From what you can tell, is anything missing? If we know what this person or people want, it may be easier to identify them."

Stella was quick to answer, "I didn't notice anything missing..." she remembered the empty picture frame, "well actually, there appears to be a photograph missing, but why would anyone just take a photograph. I mean... Danny's got a laptop, TV, DVD player, and a bunch of other stuff that's a whole lot more valuable then a simple picture." She had a confused expression on her face.

Mac's face was grim, "I guess it matters what the picture is of." Stella nodded in response.

They both ducked under the crime scene tape and began processing, trying to piece together what exactly had happened.

-

Who is this Tom person?... What exactly was on the missing photograph?... Will Danny survive this ordeal?... You'll find out soon enough!

Please review. :) :)


	7. Chapter 7

Uh Oh!! There is some violence in this one. Blood, some light(ish) cursing... all that good stuff. ;) Although I'm not sure if it's bad enough to be rated T.

**wraiths-angel,** thank you for your comments. They made me smile. :)

Hope you enjoy!

-

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

Luckily for them, Rikki Sandoval, Danny's neighbor knew where he usually shopped for his groceries.

After calling Mac to inform him of their intentions Don and Lindsay were soon on their way.

They headed toward the small corner store slowly, looking for evidence of a struggle. They stopped at each alley, in case Danny had tried to take a short cut.

At about the seventh or eighth alley way, Lindsay shouted, "Look! Right over there." she pointed.

They both jogged toward it. Their hearts began to beat faster as they realized what it was. A paper grocery bag, contents spilled out all over the cold cement. There was a dark almost black stain on the cement next to the bag. Lindsay quickly knelt down, putting on some latex gloves. She opened her kit, taking out a swab and a bottle of phenolphthalein. She swiped a bit of the stain with the swab and with trembling hands; she sprayed the swab with the chemical.

The swab turned to a bright pink color... It was definitely blood. They both let out the breaths they didn't realize they were holding. It was Danny's blood, they both knew it. The DNA would need to be tested for it to be official, but they both knew...

Lindsay looked around the alley a little more while Flack called in some back-up and then called Mac to inform him of what they had found. While scanning the ground for any other pieces of evidence, Lindsay spotted something. As she knelt back down to the ground, she saw the light reflect off of the cracked lenses of the mangled pair of glasses. There was blood spatter on them.

"Flack." Lindsay said, her concern palpable. She had been concerned before, but now, faced with actual evidence of Danny's distress, she was terrified.

Don turned and his heart plummeted at the sight of the bent up mess of metal and glass. "Damn it," he said, closing his eyes for a moment, "Those are Danny's."

They looked at each other, happy to have found such vital pieces of evidence, but worried about what it may mean. They both found themselves wondering the same thing...

Was Danny still even alive?

* * *

-

Danny laid on the air mattress, not moving a muscle, eyes closed once again. As a little boy, Danny recalled another boy who lived just down the street from him. Tommy was his name. Danny could not remember a last name, but he definitely remembered Tommy.

Tommy was the one who got them into most of their troublesome situations, although Danny was quite adept at creating mischief as well. Ever since he was allowed to play on the streets unsupervised, Danny had hung out with Tommy, until his senior year of high school that is. Once they had started high school, Tommy had changed, and not for the better. While Danny had never been the perfect child, he could not bring himself to actually hurt anyone, which is exactly what Tommy had started doing. In some testosterone fueled fit of aggression, Tommy began beating the crap out of freshmen. Danny didn't really understand the reasoning behind it, in fact he didn't agree with it at all, but he never spoke out. Tommy had been his best friend, and in high school, friends were important. Danny still hung out with Tommy until that night. Tommy had introduced him to some other guys; Sonny Sassone, and Paul Montinassi. He had never heard of Tanglewood at that point so he felt no qualms about going out for a night on the town with them. Besides, according to Tommy, Sonny and Paul were cool. Sonny told him that it was going to be a night he would never forget... He was right. Danny found himself going back to that night in his mind...

_*flashback*_

_Danny Messer was having the night of his life. Tommy's new friends sure did know how to party. Sonny and Paul seemed to know all the bars and clubs that would let them in without checking their IDs. He had only had a couple drinks so far, but he was already buzzing just the slightest bit. He was sitting in the back of Sonny's blue 67 Chevy Impala, his head hanging out the window. He liked to feel the wind in his hair. "Where we goin' again?" asked Danny, slurring slightly. He lifted his head up to glance at Sonny._

_Sonny looked at Danny in the rear view mirror, smirking, " I told ya, Danno, we're jus' goin' to another club, but first, Paul, Tommy an' me got some business to attend to." Danny nodded, not really having heard a thing Sonny had said. He laid his head back down, closing his eyes._

_Danny quickly fell asleep as the noise of New York traffic became white noise to him._

_About an hour later, he was woken up with a quick slap to the face, "Danny-boy! Listen up; we're gettin' outta the car. Come on man, you can't be that drunk, you've only had like four beers!" Tommy was grinning like a madman, as Danny cracked open his lids to see Tommy's cold grey eyes. "Dude, seriously, don't go embarrassin' me in front o' Paul and Sonny!" Tommy said, a little more adamant this time._

_That woke Danny up. He didn't want to embarrass his best friend. "'m up." he said, still slurring his word slightly._

_Tommy gave him an even bigger grin. "Good. Come on, man, yer gonna wanna see this."_

_Danny lumbered out of the car, following Tommy as he led him down into a dark alley. "Where we goin' Tommy?" asked Danny, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Danny would admit that, on the rare occasion that he actually had enough beer to be considered inebriated, he was not the usual angry or clumsy drunk. His mind just seemed to slow down and he suddenly got very sleepy._

_"Patience is a virtue, Danno" he replied, a grin still on his face._

_Danny could hear muffle noises coming from up ahead. He was getting more and more curious. 'What is it that Tommy wants me to see so badly?'_

_Tommy and Danny turned the corner and Danny was met with a horrible scene._

_Sonny and Paul had a guy, a boy really, pinned against the wall. The poor kid had blood streaming sown his face and he looked like he was close to passing out. The only reason he wasn't lying on the ground was that Sonny and Paul were holding him up. _

_Danny suddenly sobered up. "What the hell is goin' on here? Why're you guys beatin' that kid up?" _

_Sonny smirked again, "Well. Danny, here's how it is; This punk was on our territory, we're just educatin' 'im on what parts o' the city he's supposed to stay in." Sonny said this like it was the most obvious thing in the world._

_That was the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard. Danny looked over to Tommy and was surprised to see a smirk much like Sonny's plastered across his face/_

_"Come on Danny-boy, it's fun! Just take a few swings... it's exhilaratin'." _

_Danny stared at Tommy in horror, "You think that's fun? Are beatin' the crap outta some kid! How is that fun?"_

_Tommy's grin left his face. Now frowning, Tommy stepped in front of Danny, "If you can't handle it, then just get outta here. Good luck findin' yer way home."_

_Danny's suddenly got very angry. 'What the hell does Tommy think he's doin' hangin' out with these guys?' With out thinking, Danny stalked toward Sonny and Paul. He ripped their arms off of the kid, who immediately slid to the ground. Danny went to help the kid up when he felt Sonny grab his arm. Sonny spun him around, and Danny couldn't believe how cold his eyes were. _

_Lights suddenly burst in front of his eyes as a Sonny landed a clean punch right in Danny's face. He fell back against the brick wall. Looking up, he saw the nameless kid had lost consciousness and was now slumped against the wall across from him. He was brought out of his thoughts by a swift kick to his gut. He bent over, holding his stomach. He looked up and was astonished to see that his second attacker had actually been Tommy._

_"Tommy? Why..." He coughed roughly, unable to continue._

_"I told you not to embarrass me Danny... I warned you." Tommy's face was absolutely devoid of emotion. It terrified Danny._

_All at once, Sonny, Paul and Tommy all came down on him. After only a few kicks, he could feel the blood dripping down his face and he fought to keep from crying out in pain at each hit. He didn't want to give the pleasure._

_They kicked and punched him to near unconsciousness. _

_After a few minutes of merciless beating, they seemed to have become bored with causing him pain. _

_Through the haze Danny heard Sonny say "Come on guys, let's get outta here. Danny-boy here can find his own way home" They each him one last kick as they left. He watched through heavy lidded eyes as they left him, bleeding on the ground._

_He lay there, it seemed for hours before he finally passed out, but before the darkness overwhelmed him completely, one thought crossed his mind..._

_'How could you do this to me Tommy?'_

_*end flashback*_

Danny remembered waking up in the hospital. Apparently the kid he had taken the beating for regained consciousness and called 911. Now that he thought about it, he never did learn that kid's name.

According to the doctors, he' had three broken ribs, a severely broken wrist, a dislocated shoulder and a pretty major concussion. About as major as one could get with out lasting brain damage. He'd had to stay in the hospital for a whole week. His Ma freaked out. His dad had been worried, but he also seemed quite proud that the reason his only son was in the hospital was because he had tried to help someone. Joseph Messer took it as a sign that he and his wife had raised a good, caring man.

Danny didn't talk to Tommy ever again after that. The last few months of senior year, he would see Tommy walking toward him in the halls and he would simply walk away. It seemed to piss Tommy off, which suited Danny just fine. In fact, it made him feel a little bit better that he was able to upset Tommy in such a way. After graduation, Danny went to college, Tommy stayed on Staten Island. He hadn't heard from or of him since then.

Danny was startled out of his reverie by a voice...

"Hey Danno! How ya been?"

...that familiar voice.

-

That didn't turn out nearly as violent as I thought it would. :)

Please review. :) :)


	8. Chapter 8

Swearing and torture is present in this chapter... a couple F-bombs

But despite that, I still hope you enjoy it!

-

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

Danny glared up at the man standing over him. The swelling in his face had gone down and he could open his eyes almost all the way now. "What the fuck are you doin' Tommy? Why am I here?"

Tom laughed, "Ya know, no one's called me Tommy in more than a decade" Tommy continued to grin down at Danny. It irritated him.

"Yeah, well, ya know me. I 'm just that kinda guy. I like to hold on to the past." Danny's voice was dripping with sarcasm.

Tom didn't seem to appreciate the tone as he drove a fist into Danny's gut. "You just don't know when to shut up, do ya?" He laughed as Danny curled up, trying to guard himself from anymore blows. "Just like that night, huh Danno? If you had just kept yer mouth shut, we wouldn'ta had to tune you up."

Danny's only response was another glare.

"Anyways... back to business, Danny-boy. We need you to help us with somethin'."

Danny snorted, "Good luck with that. I ain't helpin' you thugs with nothin'."

He was quickly rewarded with a swift blow to the face, although not hard enough to blur reality too much.

"I wasn't finished Danny, " Tommy said gently, "You know, it's incredibly rude to interrupt some one when they're tryin' to talk. As I was saying, you _are _going to help us, with a few things, actually. Ya see, me Sonny and Mick have managed to avoid jail with just a little help. Mick found out about a cop who had a drug problem. So we blackmailed 'im. If some one got suspicious, he would throw 'em off our trail. Unfortunately, our friend was recently gunned down in the line of duty. Quite sad actually." Tommy did not look sad though. In fact, he was smirking.

Danny actually began to feel sick to his stomach as his brain made the connection. 'They need a new snitch to inform them on the police department. That's why they took me? Not to kill me? Not for a ransom? Not to get back at me for putting one of their buddies away?'

He almost felt insulted.

Danny kept staring Tom in the eyes, "Well, _Tommy_" he stressed the name, trying to rile him up, "I gotta admit, I'd rather go the way of your old friend Paul then help you bastards." Danny, of course was referring to Paul Montinassi, the now deceased Tanglewood boy. "You remember him? You an' Sonny bashed his head in with a Mickey Mantle bat."

Tom managed to control his rage, keeping on a straight face, smiling instead, "Oh Danny, we're not gonna kill ya! What good would you be to us dead? No, we may break a few fingers, maybe break yer arm, at least until ya agree to our terms, but we ain't gonna kill ya."

Danny was still defiant, "Well then, you're all screwed, 'cause I ain't doin' shit for you goons."

Tom lost his temper once again, connecting his foot with Danny's stomach, this time as hard as he could. A grin came to his face as he saw Danny cough up a few flecks of blood.

"That's one of yer problems ya know, yer just so... _good_. You'd probably rather die then help us,... but what about yer friends, huh? You willin' to risk their lives too?"

Danny looked up, alarmed, "What are you talkin' 'bout?"

Tommy answered him, "Well you see, me an' Mick went to yer apartment, yesterday an' looked around a bit. Nice place by the way."

Danny was visibly seething. 'They were in my home? I'm gonna kill 'em!'

Tommy continued, ignoring Danny's reaction, "Anyways, we was lookin' for somethin' to blackmail ya with. Ya know, drugs or somethin', but of course it's _you_, so we didn't find anythin'. We were havin' a bit o' fun throwin' the furniture around when Mick had an idea. Why don't we use some one that you care about? So we went around again and guess what we found?" He looked at Danny as though he actually wanted him to guess, but when he was met with silence, he went on, "No guesses?... Okay, I'll tell ya. Photographs. Pictures o' you and a bunch o' different people. People from that crime lab. And one particular picture sparked my interest." Tommy pulled the photograph out of his back pocket and showed it to Danny.

He recognized the photo, it was one of his favorites. It was one of the few times anyone had ever gotten the whole team to stay still for a nice picture. Everyone was in it, even Lindsay and Adam, who had been quite new and shy at the time. He saw him self standing closely next to Lindsay. He remembered that... she had smelled really good that day. 'Focus on the task at hand, Messer' Danny berated himself for getting off track.

Tom pointed to Lindsay, "See her? Pretty, ain't she? I'm thinkin' that _she's _the one who'll get killed if you don't agree to our terms."

Danny's heart stopped, 'What? Would they really kill Lindsay?' He couldn't let anything happen to her. He made a decision.

"Fine" his voice grated out, anger almost overwhelming him. Had he not been tied up, Danny probably would have tackled Tom and then promptly start to strangle him.

Tommy clapped both hands together, "Wonderful!" he said, the glee evident in his voice. "We just have to do one more thing before we let you go. And then we give ya a ride and drop ya off right in front o' that crime lab o' yers. How does that sound, Danny-boy?" Tom was speaking to Danny as if they were the best of friends, and it was making Danny nauseous.

'Oh God, what did I just agree to?' thought Danny,

Tom gave Danny another sickening smile before continuing, "I'll be right back, Danno, I just gotta grab Mick and we can get this last thing over with." He left the room.

'I think I just sold my soul to the devil.' Danny thought, darkly.

Tom re-entered the room with Mick right behind him. Mick was carrying a wooden, armed chair, a malicious grin on his face. Danny was still lying on the air mattress on his side, his hands still bound behind his back.

"Okay Danny, you ready?" asked Tom.

Danny had no idea what Tom was talking about. 'Ready for what?' he asked silently.

All of a sudden, his question was answered a Mick and Tom hefted him up from the air mattress. He was unable to keep the scream fro ripping out of his mouth. Although he had been able to ignore most of the pain while he talked with Tom, the sudden jarring movement made Danny feel as if his bones were on fire.

Danny, holding back tears, was dragged over to where Mick had set the chair. He was surprised when Mick brought out a pocket knife. Flipping it open, Danny's captor cut the rope binding his hands. Danny quickly understood though, that it was not a good thing. He saw Tom taking out some more rope. Mick shoved him into the chair, causing him to whimper one more time. Mick forced Danny's arms to the armrest. Tom, using the rope tied both his arms to the armrests, making especially sure that his left arm was secure and could not be moved. Danny, remembering something Tom had said earlier, was beginning to understand what he and Mick were planning.

Tom, satisfied with his work, stepped back, allowing Mick access to Danny.

Danny stared up at Mick with angry eyes, refusing to talk.

"Here's what's gonna happen, Danny," said Tommy, "Mick here is goin' to educate ya a little. We know you already agreed to help us out, but we need you to understand what will happen to _you_ if you give us any bad information." He looked at Mick, "Go ahead, Mick." Danny's eyes widened

Mick loomed over Danny. He grabbed his left hand, forcefully. Danny tried to fight back, tried to wriggle out of the ropes, but the knots were too tight.

He screamed as he felt bones in his finger snap.

-

Now that's what I meant by torture. (however brief it may have been)

If anyone was interested, I usually listen to music while I write. For this chapter, I was listening to song called 'World so Cold' by 12 Stones. Look it up on YouTube, it's actually a pretty cool song, kinda depressing and inspirational at the same time. :) :) :)

I have a question, I have been trying to write the dialog as it would have been said by the characters on the show (ie. Danny and Flack's accents). Do you guys think that it works?

Please review. :) :)


	9. Chapter 9

I wrote this while I was in my German class today... :) :)

I'd like to thank **wraiths-angel**, **HSMSupernatural**, **dannymesserforever11**, and **angeleyes46 **for their feedback on chapter 7. You guys have no idea how big my ego is getting. :D :) Also, thank you to anyone else who has left me a review. It is what inspires me to continue writing.

I hope you enjoy it!

-

**CHAPTER NINE**

He vaguely remembered being manhandled into some sort of vehicle. He had barely reacted when they tossed him into the back seat. The pain he had just experienced was blurring his perception of reality. The things he did see were blurred together, giving an almost psychedelic image to watch lazily for most of the trip. And the sounds he managed to hear seemed to be blended together, creating a horrible cacophony of notes, which was beginning to get on his nerves. All he could really focus on was the intense, agonizing pain shooting through his arm and hand.

After Mick had broken the first two fingers, Danny's mind had seemed to shut down. He could still feel the pain of each broken bone, but his body had simply stopped reacting to it. He was only brought back to reality with a scream when Mick snapped the bone in his arm. However, his mind quickly found its way back to the comfortable haze.

He opened is eyes completely for the first time since being released from the chair.

He knew this part of town. They were near the lab. 'Didn't Tom say somethin' about droppin' him off at the lab?' That was perfect, he could get the medical attention he needed and he could make sure Lindsay and the rest of the team were safe. 'Ah man, Mac is gonna be so pissed. I musta missed at least a couple of days of work… What day is it anyways?'

Danny's attention was caught when he noticed that Mick was sitting him up in the seat. 'What's he doin'?' His mind was not able to function very well at this point.

He could now see the lab. They were coming up on it rather quickly.

All of a sudden, Mick pushed the door open while the car was still moving. Danny was just starting to get an inkling of what Mick was doing, when he was shoved through the door.

His body landed with a sickening thump. Unable to fight the momentum, he continued moving, his skin being torn apart by the cold asphalt. He grunted, unable to do much else, as he felt his arms and legs becoming tangled with his own body. He came to a halt, right in front of the doors to the crime lab.

* * *

-

It had been three days. Three days, and they still had nothing. They had no idea where Danny might be. He was once again pouring over the case file, looking for anything that might hint at Danny's whereabouts.

Suddenly, Adam ran into his office, a panicky look on his face. "Mac, you need to get to the front of the lab, _right now_. Something's going on." Adam was r\talking a mile a minute.

"Adam, calm down. I'm really busy here. Just tell me what happened." Mac said trying to calm the panicking lab tech.

Adam replied frantically, "No, Mac, you don't understand… It's Danny!"

Mac's eyes widened. Without another word, the two men quickly headed toward the front of the building, dreading what they might find.

After what seemed like an unbearable amount of time, they arrived at the crime lab entrance. The first thing Mac saw was a crowd of people surrounding a limp figure on the ground. The both barreled through the crowd, trying to get closer.

"Move it, people!" Mac bellowed when he found him self struggling to get passed. At the sound of his deep, angry voice the gawking crowd seemed to shift, creating a narrow path for the two scientists to squeeze through. Both of them could here and see several people on their cell phones, calling for an ambulance.

They both fell to their knees, the horror evident on their faces as they took in Danny's beaten form. He was lying on his side, eyes closed. Cuts and bruises littered his face, making him almost unrecognizable. His left arm was tucked under his body at an impossible angle. His other arm was splayed out above his head. His legs, though covered in blue denim seemed equally battered. Most alarming, though was his left hand and forearm. Every finger appeared to be broken; each one was hanging crookedly from Danny's unmoving hand. His arm was most definitely broken in several places. It looked as if some one had grabbed it and brought it down on their knee, trying to snap it in half.

'They tortured him' thought Mac, to himself. He quickly put two fingers to Danny's neck, checking for a pulse. He was overjoyed to find one, but the feeling quickly left him as he realized how weak it was.

He turned his head sharply to the terrified lab tech, "Adam I need your help, okay? We need to get him on his back, but we need to make sure we don't injure him any further." Mac took in Adam's wide eyes. He was just staring at Danny, tears racing down his face. "Adam." Adam looked up at his boss, slowly. "Focus Adam, I need you to stabilize his head and neck while I roll him onto his back. He may have a neck injury that we can't see right now. Do you understand, Adam? Can you do that for me?" Adam nodded, silently, finally coming out of the panic that seeing Danny's injuries had caused.

With Adam's assistance, Mac very carefully repositioned Danny's fragile body so that he was lying on his back.

At the full sight of Danny's condition, Adam finally spoke, "Oh my God, Mac. Is... Do you... Is he... He looks..." He almost said 'dead', but he couldn't get the word to come out.

Mac understood though. "No Adam, he's alive... he's going to be fine, okay?" He said these words to try to calm panicking lab tech, but still trying to convince himself.

Mac looked up, only to see the rest of the team standing a few yards away. The crowd surrounding Mac, Adam and Danny had dissipated slightly, and each of them was given a full view of Danny's unconscious body. Lindsay had grabbed Stella's arm, bowing her head to cry while Stella wrapped an arm around her, trying to provide some sort of comfort as tears trailed down her cheeks as well. Don stood right next to them. He also had begun to cry at the horror that Danny's wounds told of, but unlike the people around him, the most prominent emotion being shown in his eyes was not sadness, or fear; it was anger. Hawkes and Sid appeared to be keeping their tears from overflowing, but the expressions on their faces showed how upset and shocked they were. No matter how many victims they had examined from gruesome murders, seeing their friend in such a state made them want to vomit.

Even Mac, with all of his self-control, found it difficult to maintain his usual mask of apathy, as he felt several tears wet his cheeks as well.

Mac lifted his head and looked to the general direction from which he knew the ambulance would be coming. Everyone was able to hear the sirens in the distance, despite the normal buzz of traffic. They still sounded pretty far off, but they were coming. Mac looked once again at his team. They were keeping their distance. They were all aware that in a situation such as this, it was unnecessary and even dangerous to crowd around a victim, even if that victim was some one they knew and cared about.

The detective looked back down at Danny's prone form. He was shocked to see that Danny's eyes were open. "Danny?" he said hopefully, "Can you hear me?" Adam's head snapped down to look at Danny when he heard Mac's question. The slightest bit of hope was visible in Adam's eyes as he too saw that Danny's eyes were open.

Danny's gaze wandered slowly from Mac, to Adam, and then back to Mac again. Mac could imagine the myriad of emotions that must have been running through his mind, but he still needed to know that Danny was really going to be okay.

Grabbing Danny's un-injured hand, Mac spoke again, "Danny, if you can hear me, just squeeze my hand." The bloodied detective was obviously not even close to lucid, if the dazed look in his eyes was any indication, but if Danny could do that one thing, it would put Mac at ease, at least for the time being.

Danny squinted slightly, as if he were concentrating very hard on something. Mac felt Danny's fingers tighten weakly around his own and couldn't help but smile as he looked Danny in the eyes, "Danny, you're going to be alright, do you hear me? An ambulance is on its way. You're going to be just fine."

Danny squeezed Mac's hand one more time before closing his eyes again.

Mac was confused at what he saw in Danny's eyes, it looked almost like… shame?

* * *

-

(Danny's POV)

When he opened his eyes, he was puzzled to see Mac's face hovering above his own. He was even more confused when he looked over and saw Adam looking hopefully at him.

He felt Mac grab his right hand. He was saying something. Through blurred vision, Danny saw Mac's lips moving, but he couldn't make out was being said. I sounded like Mac was talking to him through water. He felt Mac's hand tighten around his, and he finally understood

Danny had to put all his attention into trying to make his hand move. When he finally succeeded, the smile that Mac gave him made Danny momentarily forget about his predicament.

Hearing his boss tell him that everything was going to be alright made Danny feel safe for the first time in days, but he immediately felt ashamed. He had just agreed to leak information to one of New York's most vicious gangs. He didn't deserve their help. He didn't deserve their concern.

He looked Mac right in the eye. 'I'm so sorry, Mac' he thought as his vision darkened once again.

-

Yay!

Danny's finally safe... or is he?

I am sorry to say that I have to put this story on a very temporary hiatis. Just for a week. I have ACTs and I doubt I will get much writing done or even be on the computer that often. But don't worry, I _shall_ continue. I already have most of this story planned out in my head, so it's very unlikely that I will abandon it. :)

Wish me luck! :)

Please review. :) :)


	10. Chapter 10

I wrote an extra long chapter, just for you guys! (I feel bad having not updated in a couple of days)

ACTs weren't nearly as hard as I thought they were going to be! :)

Thank you guys for all your kind comments.

Danny will not really have any dialog or anything in the next few chapters, just a warning.

Just so you guys know 'Run Silent Run Deep' did NOT happen. It is one of my favorite episodes, but for the sake of continuity, I am just saying that the Tanglewood boys are still roaming free (obviously), I do not want to say anything about Sonny though. He will come into play later, as will Danny's brother. (Ignore my comment in the previous chapter on this subject. I've already edited it.)

I hope my changing certain parts of the past isn't confusing you too much. :)

I hope you like it!

-

**CHAPTER TEN**

They had all watched as Danny was wheeled away by the paramedics. They had seen Mac ask if he could stay with Danny as well as the paramedic shaking his head, saying that it was best if he not.

Lindsay continued to weep as a trembling Mac herded everyone to a more private location. Hawkes' face remained the epitome of shock, as did Sid's. The two medical examiners bowed their heads as they walked. Adam was slowly shuffling forward. He could not stop staring at his shaking hands. They were covered in deep crimson blood. Danny's blood. Don was still trying to stop from crying. He was also trying to restrain himself from lashing out and punching a wall in anger. Mac had calmly asked Stella to follow the ambulance and that she should call if there was any new information.

Mac, ever the fearless leader, attempted to keep his face calm for the sakes of his friends. 'They do not need a boss right now' he told himself, 'They need some one they can depend on... as a friend.'

Once the whole team had gathered in his office, Mac closed the door and turned to them. "I know that you are all worried about Danny-" Don interrupted him.

"What are we gonna do, Mac? Why aren't we at the hospital? We gotta get the bastards that did this." Everyone nodded in agreement at Flack's final disjointed thought.

"Calm down, Flack" he told the rambling detective. "We _are _going to catch whoever did this, I can promise you that, but right now, we need to realize something that this must be treated like every other case..."

Everyone's mouth opened, about to protest when Mac stopped them. "No. I know it's difficult, but in order for the evidence to be taken seriously in a courtroom, our methods cannot be questionable. Every one of you is to go by the book on this one. No mistakes are to be made." Mac paused, thinking what else needed to be said. "Stella is at the hospital right now with Danny. She will call if anything happens. In the mean time, we all need to focus and find what evidence we can. Adam, some other CSI's have already began collecting evidence from out front where Danny was found. Go to your lab and process it." Adam nodded, and without a word scurried out the door, head still bowed. Mac turned to Lindsay, "Lindsay, I would go, but I must stay here at the lab to oversee everything. So I need you to go to the hospital and find Stella. Collect Danny's clothes and other belongings; there may be evidence on them. Stella will be staying at the hospital. As soon as the doctors allow it, she will need to process and record Danny's injuries. Can you make sure that she knows this, Lindsay?" he had almost been unable to finish his sentence as he pictured Stella processing Danny's cold dead body. He had not even mentioned the possibility of Danny not surviving this ordeal. He looked at his team. They all seemed to appreciate the subtle hints of optimism.

"I got it, Mac" said Lindsay, as she purposefully walked out of his office.

Mac sighed as he continued, "Sheldon, Sid, I am sure we are all glad that your regular services will not be required, but I suggest that you both continue searching for possible suspects in Danny's past cases. Now that we have some actual evidence to work with, it might be easier to find these people." The two doctors nodded, quickly leaving the room, much like Lindsay and Adam had done before them.

After a few moments, Mac turned his head to the one person left in the room; Detective Don Flack.

Don's growing rage at seeing his best friend in such a state was palpable as Mac walked up to him, a stern look in his eyes, "Don, I know you want to get out there and hunt these animals down- Hell, _I _want to do the same, but I need you to calm down before I let you leave this office."

Don's anger peaked at this statement, "Who the hell are you to tell me what to do? Did you _see _what those monsters did to Danny? I'd be doin' the world a huge favor if I shot 'em a-" Mac cut him off again.

"That is exactly why I can't let you leave yet. If you go out there with all this anger on your mind, it's going to cloud your judgment. It could compromise the case and, even worse, you could get yourself killed. Danny doesn't want you acting stupid on his behalf. And we both know that he would _definitely_ not want you _killing_ someone for him." Mac finished in a gentle voice.

Mac's words seemed to do the trick as the barely contained anger drained from Flack's expression. Only to be replaced with fear. "I know that Mac. I just... It's just all so... He'd looked _dead,_ Mac. I had thought you and Adam were kneelin' over his cold body when I first saw you guys. He was so... still. An'... all that blood..." Flack's voice began to falter at the memory. He cleared his throat, trying to regain his composure, "He's my best friend an' he's already gone through a lot in his life, why does he need to go through this too?" His blue eyes began to tear up again, as Mac pulled him into a comforting embrace.

Releasing his long time friend from his arms, Flack took a deep breath. "I'm okay, Mac. Really, I can do this objectively. Ya know I can."

Mac stepped back from the homicide detective, giving him one last final assessment before nodding in agreement. "Yeah, Don. I know."

Flack gave Mac one last reassuring glance before leaving the office.

Mac was now alone. After a few moments of quiet pondering, Mac pulled out his large transparent dry erase board. He grabbed a marker and began making a timeline of Danny's situation. He started with the last day Danny had showed up for work, more than three and a half days ago. At the end of the line, Mac scribbled 'Danny found' along with bits of information. He then filled in what he knew in the middle. Lindsay had determined that, based on the coagulation of the blood in the alley way, which had been identified as Messer's, Danny was taken the afternoon of his day off. He quickly wrote the information in. He stared at his diagram. He found only one thought on his mind;

What exactly did Danny experience during the time in between when he was first taken and when he was returned to them, thrown from a moving car in front of the lab?

'He will be able to fill in the blanks if he wakes up' Mac told himself, '_When_ he wakes up,' he corrected himself. He had to stay to stay optimistic. If he didn't, his team would be able to sense his uncertainty and they, themselves would become uncertain too.

* * *

Detective Lindsay Munroe walked tentatively into the waiting room of the hospital's waiting room. She had been here many times before, collecting evidence from assault victims. But this was so much different. She _knew _the victim this time.

Lindsay spotted Stella sitting in one of the many uncomfortable chairs that lined the walls of the room. She quickly made her way over to the curly haired woman. "Stella?" Stella lifted her head up in response to the sudden interruption of the almost silence of the waiting room. "Hey... how is he?" she asked.

Stella gave her a small smile. "He's in surgery. They told me that they needed to fix him up. I couldn't get them to be anymore specific than that." Lindsay smiled at the irritation that was heard as Stella continued, "They said that they had no way of telling how long it might take."

Lindsay looked confused, "They couldn't even try to give you an estimate?"

Stella shook her head, "No. From what I saw, Danny's left hand and arm needed to be set, but I couldn't see anything else that warranted emergency surgery." She paused, "Unless there was internal bleeding. He could..." She stopped talking, shuddering at the thought.

Lindsay laid a comforting hand on the taller woman's shoulder, "Don't worry, Stella, Danny's the most stubborn person I know- hell, he's _still _calling me Montana. He doesn't have it in him to give up. It's just not who he is."

Stella smiled, apparently calmed by Lindsay's words. Lindsay informed Stella of her reason for being here, and Mac's other instructions.

They both turned around at the sound of someone clearing her throat. A young looking woman in light blue scrubs was standing in the door way. "Are you two ladies here about Detective Messer?" she asked. They both nodded. Giving them a short, reassuring smile, she spoke again, "The doctors that are currently working on Detective Messer asked me to give you these." she held up a large paper bag, "They are his clothes and other personal effects."

Lindsay took them. "Thank you."

The intern nodded and turned to leave when Stella's voice stopped her.

"Wait! Can you tell us anything about his condition? Is he going to be alright?"

The woman looked back and forth between the two women, and then sighed. "I'm not really supposed to tell you..."

"Please..." Lidsay begged.

She looked conflicted, but acquiesced. "Detective Messer sustained many bruise and lacerations and bruises all over his body. From the looks of the varying coloration, it appears that they were inflicted over the course of several day. His left hand has... well..." she gulped, "The doctor believes that every bone in his left hand is either fractured or broken. So the surgery to set it may lat longer than most. It's also quite obvious that his arm is broken. We have yet to find out how severe either of these two injuries really is, but we will be taking x-rays very shortly. We will also be doing an MRI and CAT scan onhis head, to make sure there is no brain swelling. Right now, the doctors are just finishing repairing a lacerated spleen, as well as some minor internal bleeding." Stella bowed her head, "don't worry, ma'am, Detective Messer should be alright." They both sighed. That had been what they were hoping to hear. "He will need extensive surgery and physical therapy for his hand and arm, but besides the lacerated spleen and minor internal bleeding, which have been repaired, Detective Messer's injuries are not life threatening." Lindsay and Stella both looked at each other, smiling at the good news.

"May I see him before the scans? I need to process his injuries." Stella really just wanted to see that Danny was still alive. Despite how the intern's words had brought immeasurable amounts of relief into her mind, she would not be satisfied until she saw Danny herself.

The intern fidgeted slightly, obviously unsure, "I'm not really sure, ma'am. I'd need to ask his doctor." The woman left the room in search of the doctor.

Both women sat down. They were both relieved to hear that Danny's injuries were not life threatening, but they were still worried. What exactly had happened to him? It was obvious from the damage inflicted on his hand that his captors had tortured him. They found that the relief was steadily dissolving back in to dread as they imagined countless different scenarios, most of them involving Danny screaming in pain as someone systematically snapped each of his fingers.

They were brought back to reality by the intern walking back into the room. "The doctor said that it would be okay to process Detective Messer, as long as I was present, just in case something happens." The to investigators nodded their understanding.

Lindsay leaned over to Stella, "Mac wants me back with Danny's personal effects, but... I just want to see him. I just want to see that he's really okay."

Stella nodded, "That's fine Lindsay."

They both stood up and followed the intern to the room that Danny was being kept in. They stepped through the door way and took in what was in front of them.

Danny was laying in the bed with his eyes closed. several wires were attached to different parts of his body, monitoring his vitals. On the flesh that was not covered by the blanket or the thin pale hospital gown, Lindsay and Stella both saw the numerous dark purple bruises, as well as the many cuts and lacerations, which he had sustained after being thrown from that speeding car. Even if Danny had been awake, they both doubted that he would be able to open his eyes, because of all the swelling.

Lindsay walked over to Danny's bed side. Grabbing Danny's uninjured hand, she whispered something into his ear. Stella was unable to hear it, but was not about to ask what had been said either. She had a pretty good idea already.

Giving Stella one last, she walked out of the room with evidence in hand.

The intern had sat down in the chair against the wall. "Miss...?" Stella prompted.

"Phillips," she supplied, "but you can all cal me Sara. Since my mentoring doctor is in charge of taking care of Detective Messer, I think we will be seeing quite a lot of you."

Stella smiled, "Well then, you can call me Stella, and enough with 'Detective Messer'. You can call him Danny. Do you think that you could help me? I need to take pictures of all of his injuries."

Sara nodded, hopping up from her seated position. Stella would ask her to hold up Danny's hand or arm, or hold a ruler next to any particularly defined bruises. Sara carefully rolled Danny onto his side, so that Stella could get some shots of the bruise on his back. She noticed that most of them had very distinct edges. They looked like the tips of shoes.

With Stella's help, Sara carefully returned Danny to his back. 'Not even have way done.' thought Stella as she took in the Danny's many lacerations. Each one would need to be swabbed, so that they might discover what had caused them. The more they knew, the closer they would be to the bastards that had done this.

Both their heads popped up when they heard the blips of the heart monitor suddenly start to pick up its pace. "Danny?" asked Stella, "Can you hear me?" Her heart broke into pieces as she heard the whimper he let loose from his lips. His pulse spiked up again. "Danny, you need to stay calm." His heart continued to race.

"I'll go get the doctor." said Sara, as she left the room running.

Stella grabbed Danny's uninjured hand. "Danny, you need to _calm down, _alright? Can you hear me?"

The only response was another, louder whimper.

Sara rushed back into the room with a man in a white doctor's coat close behind her. The man quickly made his way to Danny, leaning over his patient, "Mr. Messer, if you can hear me, I am giving you a sedative alright? We need you to stay calm." With that said, the doctor inserted a needle into Danny's IV port. Danny's heartbeat continued on erratically for a few moments before the sedative began to take affect. Stella grabbed his hand again as he let out one last weak whimper.

"It's alright, Danny." she said. "I'm not going to leave you."

Danny's attending physician stepped up behind her. "Are you Detective Bonesara?" she nodded, "I'm Dr. Robert Sterlin, Danny's doctor." The two shook hands, for the sake of social niceties if nothing else. Stella couldn't help but let the investigator in her take over as she examined the man.

Doctor Sterlin was a tall, lean man of about fifty. He had light brown hair with streaks of grey that seemed to make him look more experienced.

Trying to stay professional, Stella got right to the point, "Doctor, can you tell me how long it will be until I will be able to finish processing him? I know that his medical needs are more important, but we need to collect any evidence we can, so that we can catch whoever did this to him."

Doctor Sterlin nodded, "I understand, Detective, but before I can allow that, we need to make sure everything is running smoothly in Mr. Messer's head. When he was first brought in, he had several contusions to the head. None of them seemed to be too severe, but nonetheless, I feel that it would be better to err on the safe side. I was actually just heading up here to retrieve Mr Messer for his MRI and CAT scan."

"I understand too, doctor. His health is much more important."

The doctor smiled gently before having to orderlies push Danny's bed out of the room, in the direction of the radiology department.

Sara was about to follow when Stella' voice stopped, for the second time that day, "Sara, can you please tell me when Danny's scans are completed? Even if I can't process him, I'd like to sit with him."

"Of course." the inten said, "It shouldn't take too long. Maybe an hour and a half for both scans. If every thing looks okay, you can stay with him, and if it's alright with Dr. Sterlin, finish processing too."

Stelaa stepped back, letting herself fall into the chair behind her. It was only slightly more comfortable then the stairs in the waiting room. She was exhausted. "Thank you." she whispered. Sara barely heard her say it.

"It's no problem at all, Stella, I'll be back down soon, okay?" Stella nodded silently and the intern left the room.

Very soon, she started to feel herself falling asleep in the hard plastic chair.


	11. Chapter 11

Thanks for all the reviews!!!!! :) :) :)

I have officially re-categorized this fic as a Danny/Lindsay fic. You'll see why in later chapters.

**Chapter Eleven**

Danny returned to consciousness only to be greeted by complete darkness. Through a drug-induced haze, he was somehow able to conclude that his eyes were once again swollen shut. He could feel a dull throb, running rampant throughout his entire body. The last thing he could clearly remember was Mac looking down at him, telling him that he would be okay, although he seemed to vaguely recall over-hearing a conversation. He had no idea what it had entailed, nor who had been speaking, but he remembered a soft voice had told him that she was not going to leave him. He had felt a tight grip encircling his hand. There was a steadily increasing beeping in the background. He found himself quite grateful that this person, whoever she was, was here with him. Then, all of a sudden, he felt sleep dragging him back down into unconsciousness. 'No," he thought, 'Please, I don't want to go back to sleep.'

His pleas went unheard as darkness swallowed him once again.

* * *

He had already washed the blood from his hands and changed his shirt, but he could still feel the sticky substance coating his hands.

Adam Ross sat in his lab, going over the small amount of evidence that had been collected from where Danny had been found. They had found a small patch of fabric and some small sand-like particulates. He'd had no luck so far in identifying either one.

He looked up glancing at the people gathered in the layout room across the hall. Lindsay sat on a stool, examining Danny's clothing. Adam had been, so far, unable to enter the room, because of the sight of the shredded, blood-soaked shirt and jeans. Hawkes had volunteered to assist Lindsay. He was examining Danny's other personal effects; his watch, shoes, and the contents of his pockets. Sid sat in the corner going through a box of files, looking for any possible suspects.

Taking a deep breath, Adam steeled himself. He walked into the layout room. "Hey, guys? The fabric and those grainy particulates aren't popping up in any of the data bases. I have a broad search identification program being run on both, but they might take a while… if they even work out at all." Adam paused, looking at each of them, "Have you guys found anything?"

Lindsay spoke up. "I found several fibers and loads of trace on Danny's clothes, but I haven't run them yet. There was also some kind of plant material sticking to the cuffs of his jeans… I think he was probably tied up. The fibers are what was left from whatever was used to tie his ankles together." Adam nodded, trying not to shudder at the image forming in his mind. The others in the room appeared to be doing the same.

"I found some sort of dust on his shoes. I was just about to run it. Nothing yet on his other things, but I'm going to keep looking." said Hawkes.

"And I've found a few more possible red flags, but nothing concrete to point to a specific person or group of people." said Sid, disappointed with his lack of definite leads.

"It's alright, Sid." said Hawkes, "Come on, let's go back down to records. Maybe we can find something we missed."

Sid nodded. The two men got up and walked out of the room, leaving Adam and Lindsay alone.

Adam let out an exasperated sigh. They had _nothing_ despite all of their efforts. "Lindsay," he said, trying to hide his frustration, "why don't you let me help you with identifying some of that trace. I'm running my last piece of evidence in a broad search program as we speak, but it could take as long as a couple of days- If it's even in the system at all."

"Sure, take a seat." She said gesturing at the stool beside her. As he sat down, Adam looked at Lindsay a little closer. Her eyes were red and slightly puffy. She had been crying.

"Lindsay?" asked the lab tech, "How are you doing with all of this? You look upset."

"Adam, I know what Mac said about treating this like any other case, but I just can't help it. Danny, our colleague, our _friend_, is lying in a hospital bed right now because some psychos beat the hell out of him. You were right there, Adam. You were closer to him than most of us. Did you _see_ what they did to him? I can't believe you can be so calm right now." She was right, in the last few hours especially, Adam had shown a determination and a

Adam stared at Lindsay with a surprised look on his face, "You think I'm _calm_? Lindsay, I am about as far as calm as I can get. The only reason I haven't already had a break down is because I keep telling myself that Danny needs us to focus. Danny was like an older brother to me." Adam's slightly trembling voice gave away how many emotions were actually swirling around in his head. "I know you like Danny, Lindsay." He informed her. When her eyes widened and her mouth opened to contradict he let out a crooked smile and said, "Everyone can see it, Lindz. And it's no big deal. Haven't you ever noticed the attraction between Stel and Mac? And I happen to know that Flack has a crush on one of the new detectives- Angell, I think is her name. As long as you can keep a clear head, it's no big deal… It's okay to show how upset you are. Mac told us to treat this like a normal assault case. He never told us to bottle up our feelings." Once Adam was finished with his short speech, Adam, somewhat awkwardly, took Lindsay into a comforting hug. Lindsay's eyes welled up with tears as she let her feelings from the past few days finally break free from her mind.

After a few moments, Adam leaned down and whispered into Lindsay's ear, "Besides, I happen to know that Danny likes you too."

* * *

"Detective Bonesa- I mean, Stella?" Stella was jolted from her pseudo-sleep by the soft voice. She looked up to see Sara, smiling apologetically at her. "I'm sorry to wake you Stella, but the doctor has completed the scans."

"And...?" Stella prompted her.

"And there was no evidence of swelling. The doctor told me to come and get you. You can finish processing him now that we have gotten him settled into a new room."

They both walked down the busy hospital wing towards Danny's new private room. "When does the doctor think he might wake up?" asked Stella.

"Actually," replied Sara, "Dr. Sterlin believes that Danny had been in the process of waking up when we had needed to sedate him." Stella gave her a confused look, so she explained, "Because of the violent way in which Danny was injured, it is best for him to wake up slowly. Too much information in too little time could cause another episode like the one you witnessed earlier."

"Okay." said Stella. The two women stopped in front of Danny's door. She glanced at her watch and gasped. It had been nearly twelve hours since Danny's admission to the hospital and she had not yet called Mac to update him on anything. "Sara, before I see Danny, I really have to make a phone call... could you excuse me for a moment?"

"No problem. When your done, you can just go right in. I'll be at the nurses' station if you need anything."

"Thanks." Once she was alone, Stella quickly dialed Mac's number.

-

I may be able to post another chapter again tonight... I guess we'll see :)

Please review!!


	12. Chapter 12

I'd like to thank anyone who reviewed... You guys rock!

Just so you know, this story is far from over. Although Danny is temporarily out of harm's way, he still must deal with getting out of his deal with Tom. There is stiil physical and emotional torment to come!

Very briefly, I mentioned Angell. I'm not really sure when she was introduced in the show, but, for this story, just try to pretend. :)

I hope you enjoy it!

-

**Chapter Twelve**

Mac had asked the whole team to meet in his office. He watched as each person filed into his room. The first to arrive was Hawkes with Sid entering a few seconds. Both of them had solemn faces. Adam and Lindsay arrived together. Mac noted that both appeared to have been crying. Next was Flack along with another woman whom Mac had never net before.

Don decided that introductions were in order, "Heya guys? This is Jessica Angell. She's a new homicide detective in the precinct. She heard about what's happened. Told me she wants to lend a hand." Mac raised his eyebrows. He was aware that most of the New York police department was looking for Danny, but it was odd for a homicide detective to take this type of approach. Despite how Flack may feel about them, most beat cops and regular detectives thought of the CSIs as geeks with test tubes. They tried tp avoid them as much as possible.

"It's nice to meet you Detective Angell. Thanks for helping." The two shook hands. The rest of the team briefly introduced themselves to Angell. Getting right back to business, Mac began speaking, "Alright everyone, now I know you've all been worried about Danny's condition, so before we discuss anything about the case, I'd like to tell you that the doctors believe he is going to be okay." There was a collective sigh, "Stella called, she briefed me on his injuries. His hand is going to require some extensive surgery, but other then tvhat, there is nothing that will cause any long-term damage." The supervisor paused, grateful about finally being able to give his friends some good news. "I talked to Hillbourne. Our current cases are being handed oer to the night shift, so that we can focus on finding the people that did this to Danny. I just got off the phone with Stella. She is still at the hospital. She feels that some one should be with Danny at all times. Even if his life isn't still in danger, it would be best if there was some one he knew present when he wakes up. So, after this meeting, I am going to go to the hospital to relieve Stella, so that she can bring back the trace she pulled from Danny. We are going to be taking three hour shifts. Danny isn't to be left alone for a minute. Only one of us at a time though"

The whole team nodded in agreement. They all wanted to see their friend.

"Do you think I could have the shift after you Mac?" asked Lindsay. She and Adam shared a look

"That's fine, Lindsay" replied Mac. Then, looking at the rest of the team, asked in a steady voice "What have we got so far?"

Hawkes was the first to speak, "The dust I found on Danny's shoes was cement dust. I was thinking it was a dead end- I mean ninety percent of this city is cement, but I ran it through another database and I got a manufacturer based on the chemical ingredients. It was made by Tremco, an old company that went bankrupt almost thirty years ago. According to my research, they mostly did basements and cellars."

"That means that Danny was most likely kept in a basement or somewhere underground."

"Not counting the subways, there aren't very many places in this city with basement or cellars that anyone could have access to." said Lindsay.

"Yeah, but there are still too many to search 'em all." said Don, rather glumly.

"I was able to identify some of the trace on Danny's clothes. There was a mold, called cladosporium, which seems to verify that Danny was kept in a basement. There was a sticky substance on the bottoms of his jeans. It came back as the adhesive used in duct tape. The fibers I collected are still being run."

Mac nodded, mentally storing all of the information. He turned to Sid, "Sid, have you found anything in Danny's files?"

"No, Mac. I've recorded any of the people that threatened Danny in any way, but almost all of them are still in jail, and the others... I just don't think they would do anything like this." Sid sounded defeated.

"It's alright, Sid. Put that list on my desk, I'll take a look at it." He looked at Adam, "What about you, Adam? Anything?"

Adam nodded. "I identified the swatch of fabric that was collected from the sidewalk where Danny was found. It's actually not fabric; it's a special kind of rubber that is used mainly in the manufacturing of inner-tubes and air mattresses." Adam paused, "I'd kinda put my money on air mattress. I don't think Danny went tubing."

"Anything traceable?" asked Mac hopefully.

"No, not unless there's a database that records air mattress purchases, but if we can find the one that it came from, I think we would be able to match the tear marks."

"Okay. What about those sandy particulates? Have you been able to identify those?

"No. Sorry Mac, there's nothing in the data bases with that composition. I think it's some kind of sediment, but I can't be sure."

"That's okay Adam. Once Stella gets back, you can help her with whatever she collected from Danny" turning back to Don, "What about you, Flack, have you found out anything?"

"No, sorry, Mac. Me an' Jess have been knockin' on doors all day. No one's seen or heard anythin'. Or at least they nothin' they wanna tell us about."

"That's alright, Don. How about you take the shift after Lindsay? I think you need to take a break."

Don nodded, somewhat reluctantly.

"Okay, everyone," said Mac, "I will write up a schedule for us to keep Danny company and e-mail it to you. For now though, I think it would be a good idea if we all went home. Danny is safe now. We can start again tomorrow."

Unable to deny that they were exhausted, everyone agreed, and silently filed out of the room.

Mac was left alone with his thoughts once again, as he grabbed his things, getting ready to go to the hospital.

-

-

I know, it's pretty short. Just a warning, the next few chapters will also be pretty short, but they are all very emotional for the team.

The next few chapters will be rather emotional for some of the team members, but they will also be k\ind of short, so I will be posting two a day. :)

Please review!!


	13. Chapter 13

This and the next few chapters will be quite emotional, but also quite short. They are supposed to be like that though. :)

-

**Chapter Thirteen**

(Mac's Shift)

Mac sat in the corner of Danny's hospital room, in the stiff, uncomfortable chair. For the last two hours, he had sat there, keeping watch over Danny.

At certain points, he found it necessary to speak aloud, just to fill the deafening silence that seemed to be encasing the entire room. He told Danny about all of the things he had missed while he had been missing. He told him about Flack's new friend, Angell, and how they seemed to be closer than just friends. After he had run out of things to say in regards to the lab, Mac started just telling stories about his time as a marine.

Danny continued to lay still and pale in the hospital bed.

"You know, I think all of this has made me a little crazy, Danny." said Mac, chuckling, "You are basically in a drug-induced coma. You can't hear any of the things that I'm saying to you, and yet, I just keep talking. I don't know what it is about this whole situation, but I can't seem to get my head around the fact that this has happened to you. I've had colleagues get injured before, killed even. But this… this is different." Mac paused trying to hold back another wave of tears, "I think it's probably because you're more than just a colleague. Everyone on this team is family to me. Especially since Claire died. You, Stella, Sheldon, Lindsay, Sid, Adam. If anything ever happened to any of you, I don't know what I'd do. You're like a son to me Danny. I know, sometimes it seems like we're always fighting, but it's true."

Mac got up from his seat in the corner. He slowly walked toward Danny's bed, sitting in the chair right beside it. He grabbed Danny's right hand, avoiding the IV line.

"I promise, Danny, we will catch these people. They will be put behind bars. They will never be able to hurt you or anyone else ever again."

Mac stayed like that, with Danny's hand in his own, for the rest of the night.

-

Next is Lindsay's shift.

Please review!!


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen**

(Lindsay's Shift)

Lindsay walked into Danny's hospital room, with trepidation. She couldn't help but crack a smile when she saw Mac, his head leaning back on the chair next to Danny's bed. Danny's hand was encased in Mac's tight grip.

Quietly, Lindsay walked over to her boss. Shaking his shoulder gently, Lindsay whispered, "Mac?" Mac fidgeted in his sleep, but did not wake up. She shook a little harder. "Mac, come on." Mac's eyes opened. Lindsay smiled at him, "Your shift is over. You need to get home and try to get some real sleep."

Mac nodded wearily. He got up and began to collected hi things.

"How's he doing? Any changes?" asked Lindsay.

Mac sighed, "No, the doctors are keeping him asleep for now. They said that his body should be allowed to heal to a certain extent before he should be allowed to wake up. They are basically keeping him in a chemically induced coma."

"Can he hear us?" she asked, looking over to her friend.

"The doctors said that it is possible, but it is impossible to be sure because the sleep is drug induced."

Lindsay nodded her understanding. "Alright." She took a good look at Mac, taking note of the dark circles under his eyes. "Go home, Mac. I'll stay with him."

Without a word, Mac nodded and left the room.

Lindsay took Mac's place at Danny's bedside, pausing tentatively before grasping his uninjured hand, just as Mac had done.

"I must say, Danny" she said, unable to hold her thoughts in, "You seem to be quite a trouble magnet. I've heard stories- mostly from Don, about you and your wild ways. And something about a silver statue man?… I really don't know." She paused, taking in Danny's still form, "But you know what? Despite everything that I've heard about you, I can't help but feel a certain chemistry between us. Through the bantering and the snarky comments, I always feel better after I talk to you. You probably can't hear me right now, but I just wanted to say… that I like you."

She looked at Danny's expressionless face, "Don't look at me like that, Messer. I said _like _not _love_. I don't know you well enough to love you, but… I'm getting there."

Lindsay laid her head down on the mattress, next to Danny's body. "I just need you to wake up and be okay so that I can tell you for real." She sniffed back a few tears, "And so that maybe _liking _you can turn into _loving _you... Do you hear me Messer? You have to wake up! If you don't… Who's going to call me 'Montana' and annoy me on a daily basis?" She smiled. "Even... even if you don't feel the same way about me... I just need my friend to wake up."

Still holding back tears, Lindsay slowly let her eyes close.

-

Next is Flack's shift.

Please review!!


	15. Chapter 15

Shortest chapter yet, but the brotherhood between Danny and Don doesn't really need much said about it. It's already going to be pretty emotional. :)

**Chapter Fifteen **

(Don's Shift)

Don Flack walked into Danny's room quietly. He gently woke Lindsay, who had her head lying on Danny's arm, tear tracks staining her face.

"Lindsay, it's one am. Your shift is over. You should get home. Get some real sleep."

Lindsay smiled, recalling saying something very similar to her supervisor only a few hours earlier.

After Lindsay had collected her things and left, Don took her place beside Danny.

"Danny, if you can hear me, ya should know, the whole team is doin' everythin' we can to get these guys."

Don looked down at his shoes, awkwardly. He didn't know how exactly this was supposed to work. He decided to just say what was on his mind. "I just wanna let you know…" Don's voice cracked, "yer my best friend man. I love ya like a brother. An' when I saw you lyin' there…" Don had to pause to attempt to compose himself, "I thought ya were dead, man. I saw all that blood… Ya weren't movin' or nothin'. Was one of the scariest moments o' my life. I jus' wanted to go find whoever did this an' beat their frickin' skulls in." The anger suddenly left Don's voice. "Don' ever do nothin' like this again, ya hear? I don' think any o' us could take it."

Once he had finished, Don felt a large weight from his chest. He got settled in his chair, ready to keep guard for the next six hours.

-

Next is Adam's shift

Please review!!


	16. Chapter 16

This is a little bit longer, but only because there's a flashback. I know it's kinda weird that Adam's 'moment' with Danny is longer than Lindsay's, but it's just sorta how it worked out.

In the interest of time, I have decided not to do one of these little shorts with Hawkes or Sid. It's not that they don't care, it's just that I can't really come up with anything for them to say that hasn't already been said. Also, Stella will not have a'moment' with Danny either. I'm kinda counting the fact that She was with him when he almost woke up as their 'moment.

Anyways...

I hope you enjoy it!

-

**Chapter Sixteen **

(Adam's Shift)

Adam had a difficult time actually crossing the threshold into Danny's room. Although most of his wounds were covered, Danny's broken body made him want to turn around and just run away.

Danny had truly been a good friend to him. When he had first come to the lab, many people had been wary of Adam. Despite how much of a family they had eventually become, CSIs tended to be very suspicious, even paranoid. The new lab tech had been studied carefully by everyone before any of them had tried to befriend him. Everyone that is, except for Danny. The bespectacled CSI had walked into his lab, introduced himself, and asked if he would help him with a re-construction. Although it had been unclear to Adam at first, but Danny had actually been trying to help. It seemed that to be socially accepted at the New York crime lab, a new employee first had to take part in an odd, and often humiliating re-construction.

Adam found himself going back to that day.

_*flashback*_

_This man he had just met seemed nice. Unlike the other people here, he actually talked to Adam and made eye contact. He was, however, slightly worried about where the blond haired investigator was taking him. And for what purpose? "What exactly did you need my help with again, Danny?"_

_"I told ya, man, a reconstruction. Keep up, Adam. We're almost there."_

_They had just reached the top of a rather long stair case. Unlocking what appeared to be a maintenance door, Danny led Adam through the door, out onto the roof of the building._

_'Oh, God,' thought Adam, 'He's going to kill me! He's going to throw me over the ledge!' Adam's mind was going a mile a minute, a terrified look on his face._

_Danny noticed Adam's expression and chuckled, "Calm down man. We just need yer help in reconstructing a crime. Yer about the same size as the victim. None of us had the right build."_

_"Us?" Adam's voice cracked._

_Danny, with a smirk on his face, pointed over Adam's shoulder. Adam quickly spun around… only to see a small portion of the lab smiling, somewhat evilly at him. Stella, Hawkes, Sid… even Mac was there. _

_"Why are so many people up here?" asked Adam._

_"Well duh, they wanted to watch!" said Danny, enthusiastically._

_Adam was starting to feel the terror start to take him over again. "What exactly is this reconstruction we're doing?"_

_Adam couldn't help but shiver at the grin Danny gave him._

_*end flashback*_

Adam chuckled. It had taken weeks to scrub the smell of sulfur from his skin. He hadn't been able to look at Danny without glaring for a while. Soon, though, Adam noticed that everyone had seemed to finally come to trust him. It took a few more days for Adam to realize what Danny had done for him. The humiliating reconstruction had not been a prank, it had been an initiation.

Finally coming back to reality, Adam spoke for the first time since arriving. "Danny, I know we haven't actually known each other all that long, but… I just wanted to say that… well, You're kind of like a big brother to me." After pausing again, Adam continued, "We're all working really hard to catch whoever did this, okay? We'll get them."

With being said, Adam took a seat in the chair in the corner. For the rest of the night, he didn't take his eyes off of his injured friend.

-

Something big (ish) happens in the chapter, but it is still kinda short, so I'm just going to post it right after this. :)

Please review!


	17. Chapter 17

I know, this is another really short one, but...

**Chapter Seventeen**

It had been a week since Danny had last been anywhere close to awake. Mac, Adam, Stella, Lindsay, Flack, Hawkes, and Sid had all taken their shifts staying with Danny.

All of the CSIs had gathered in the hospital waiting room, along with Flack and Angell. It was currently Lindsay's turn to stay with Danny. Sara, the intern, had informed her that they were going to try to wake him up. Needless to say, they had all rushed over at the news.

"What is the next step after he wakes up?" asked Stella.

"Well, the injuries to his hand and arm will take quite a while to heal completely." Said Dr. Sterlin, "Once he is released from here, he will need to do extensive physical therapy for several months. His other injuries appear to be healing nicely."

"What about work?" asked Stella.

"What do you mean?" asked the doctor.

"Well, knowing Danny, he will want to get back to work as soon as possible- probably sooner than he should, actually. How long will he need to wait until he can go back to work? What else needs to be done?"

"Once the physical wounds have healed enough, Mr. Messer will need to have a psychological evaluation, but unless he is seen as mentally unfit to return to work, he should be alright to come back after about a month, although I would require that he take it easy for the first few weeks or so."

"And if he _is _seen as mentally unfit?" asked Mac, with a serious voice.

"Well, Detective Taylor, then it would be totally up to you what to do next."

"Can we just do this already?" asked Adam, "I'm really anxious to see Danny awake."

They all nodded their agreement.

Seeing this, the doctor led them from the waiting room down to Danny's room.

Danny's bruises had all improved greatly over the last few days. They were no longer a deep purple mixed with black. Slowly their colors had shifted to a faded purple and then into a yellowish brown. His lacerations had all closed up and everyone was hoping that they would leave very few scars. His entire arm had been encased in a heavy white cast. It held his fingers still and went all the way up to right below his shoulder.

The doctor had already begun unhooking the IV line that was feeding Danny the drugs that were keeping him asleep.

As he disconnected the line, the doctor said, "It may be an hour or two before he wakes up. It's different for all patients. Some wake up ten minutes after the drug had stopped being administered, others just seem to take their time."

"That's okay," said Flack, "None of us are leaving until he wakes up."

About an hour had gone by since the doctor had left. Each member of the team had settled down in different spots in the room. Hawkes and Sid were sitting side by side against the wall, talking about random medical facts. They were trying to pass the time. Stella had moved another chair next to Mac, who had taken the seat to the right of Danny's bed. They were both silent. Lindsay, to everyone's surprise, had sat down on the bed, careful not to jostle Danny. She had immediately grabbed a hold of Danny's hand. She hadn't moved since then. Adam hadn't been able to sit down. He was too nervous, so he just paced back and forth. Don had sat himself down in the chair in the corner. He hadn't moved or spoken the whole time.

All of a sudden, they heard a strange noise emanating through the room. It was a soft moan.

They all jumped up and rushed forward to the bed. They stared at Danny's face intently for several moments.

After a few more minutes, Danny's eyes finally opened.

-

tahdaa!!!

New chapter should be up by tomorrow. I actually have a few more chapters already written, but it's more suspenseful to give it out in small doses. :)

Please review!


	18. Chapter 18

Hope you like it...

**Chapter Eighteen**

(in Danny's mind)

It had been so dark for so long. He hadn't had any dreams, or nightmares for that matter. In fact, he hadn't really been thinking at all. Danny was only now noticing the darkness that surrounded him. It was unlike any darkness he had ever experienced in any alley or even on the darkest of nights. But now that he was cognizant, he couldn't escape the regret and the guilt and the anger that he felt coursing through his mind.

He could sense several presences around him. They were people he knew. Over the last few years Danny had found himself able to identify when certain friends were around him, not by sight, but by an odd feeling in the back of his mind. He often thought of it as he was feeling their auras. Of course, as a scientist, he would never admit this strange 'ability' to his colleagues. They would surely have him committed.

Slowly, the unnatural darkness receded, and Danny was left with the normal darkness one experienced when one's eyes are closed. And soon, even that darkness began to fade.

Danny heard an odd noise. It sounded like pain filled moan. 'Was that _me_?' he thought.

Eventually, Danny was actually able to open his eyes. Through blurred vision, he made out six multi-colored blobs. The blobs seemed to be talking to him, but it sounded like they were speaking in a mix of German and Japanese.

As Danny's head cleared, the German-Japanese dribble turned into English, but his vision remained blurred.

"Danny?"

It was Mac. Danny remained silent. 'He'd be so disappointed if he knew what I've agreed to do' thought Danny.

"Danny? Can you hear us? Can you talk?"

That was Lindsay.

'She wouldn't even wanna look at me if she knew,' Danny thought, 'but I gotta keep her safe. I can't let those bastards hurt her.'

After a few more minutes, Danny's vision sharpened. He could make out their faces now. They all looked worried and overjoyed at the same time. 'They shouldn't be happy to see me,' thought Danny, 'I've betrayed them all.'

"Danny?" Lindsay repeated.

"I hear ya, Montana." rasped Danny.

Lindsay' eyes welled up. "You have no idea how glad I am to finally hear you call me that again." She smiled through the tears.

"How ya feelin'? Any pain? Should we get a nurse?" Flack was rambling.

Trying to hide his shame, Danny chuckled, "Nah, I'm alright, Don. I jus' wanna get outta here." Actually, his left arm and hand were killing him, but he didn't want to say anything. In his experience, pain meant something was wrong. And if something was wrong, he would need to stay in that bed even longer. 'Definitely don't want that', he thought to himself.

"Well you're out of luck then," said Hawkes, smiling gently, "You're gonna be here a few more days. This wasn't just a booboo, Danny. You were beaten within an inch of your life. You need to recover."

Danny nodded, resigned, still unable to look any of them in the eye. "How long have I been in here?" he asked after a few moments.

"A little more than a week." said Sid.

Danny nodded again. He looked down at his body, taking inventory of his injuries. He didn't look to bad, except for the big, bulky cast which almost entirely covered left arm. The bruises looked like they were fading and the multitude of cuts he had sustained after being thrown from the car had all closed up and begun to heal.

Watching Danny carefully, Mac began speaking, "Danny, you don't have to talk about this yet if you don't want to, but we all know the sooner the better…," Mac paused, making sure Danny understood, "Do you remember anything about your abduction? Can you recall who your captors were, or where you were taken?"

Danny froze at the question. Of course he remembered. He was certain that they would haunt his nightmares for a long time, but he couldn't tell them that. Those bastards had coerced him into agreeing by threatening to kill Lindsay. They had broken all the bones in his hand as a warning not to give them any bad information… What would they do if he told Mac their identities? He shuddered at the thought.

"No, Mac," said Danny, quietly, "I'm sorry, but I don't really remember much. The time that I was even conscious, I don't think I saw any of their faces." He kept head down. He couldn't look his boss in the eye when he was lying.

"What about voices?" asked Adam, trying to help, "If you heard one of their voices again, do you think you could identify them?"

"I don't remember the voices either, Adam" Danny grated. They all looked at him, confused at his angry tone.

"What's wrong, Danny?" asked Flack.

"Nothin', man. I jus' don't remember… I guess I'm jus' tired" Danny tried to make an excuse for his outburst.

They all stole quick glances at one another. Looking back to Danny, Mac said, "If you're really tired, we should probably let you rest. Now that you're awake, you don't need one of us to be with you all the time, but I'm still going to assign an officer outside your door, just in case." As they all gathered their things, Mac added, "We can do an official interview about your abduction as soon as you feel up to it."

Danny only nodded in response.

"We need you back at the lab soon Danny, so don't go and do something stupid to re-injure yourself," said Stella. She gave him a motherly kiss on the forehead before walking out the door.

Everyone else quickly followed suit until only Lindsay remained.

"Danny…" Lindsay hesitated, "I just wanted to tell you how glad I am that you're okay. We were all really scared when we first saw you… I'm… I'm just gad you're going to be okay." Once she finished speaking, Lindsay grabbed her jacket and made her way to the door before turning to face him again, "I'll be coming by tomorrow afternoon, okay?"

Danny nodded, still staying mute.

"Alright… Bye Danny." She said as she left the room.

Once she was gone and he was alone, Danny finally let all his emotions out. All the emotions and feelings about the predicament he was in, not to mention the torture he had gone through during his capture.

'What the am I gonna _do_?' he thought.

He rolled onto his side, wincing at the dull pain in his ribs.

Screwing his eyes shut, he thought again, 'What the _fuck_ am I gonna _do_?'

-

What _is _Danny going to do? D:

I have the next few chapters finished, but I have misplaced the flash drive on which I stored them. Don't worry though, I find it. :)

Please review! :)


	19. Chapter 19

Obviously Danny seems kind of out of character, but you must remember what Tom did and said to him. Fear is a very powerful thing, able to change how people act and think.

Hope you like it!

**Chapter Nineteen**

(Two months later)

Danny climbed out of his car, grabbed his things from the back seat, and headed toward the main doors to the crime lab. It was Danny's first day in the lab. He didn't really care that he still wasn't allowed out in the field.

With the exception of his left hand, Danny's wounds had all healed. The purple and black bruises covering his body had eventually faded; the cuts had all healed over, and the scars were beginning to fade. He no longer had to hold back shouts of pain when he made any sudden movements.

Despite the fact that his left hand was almost useless, being securely strapped into a thick black brace that reached from his elbow to his finger tips, Danny actually felt pretty _good_. The fact that he hadn't heard from Tom or Mick, or anyone affiliated with Tanglewood for that matter made it seem like nothing had happened at all. Danny had almost been able to convince himself that it had all been a hallucination. Yes, he had been abducted, but something happened, he passed out and imagined the whole thing with Tom and Mick. It _almost_ made sense. Except every time Danny looked at his hand when he took the brace off to shower, he saw the criss-crossing of surgical scars, the still slightly crooked fingers. And then he would remember with painful clarity _exactly _what had caused them.

Once released from the hospital, the entire team had insisted that he stay with one of them. For safety reasons, they had said, but Danny was terrified of getting his friends hurt. Even if he didn't do anything, if Tom got the slightest bit suspicious, Danny was sure that the consequences would be horrible, for him and anyone else around him. So he had kept his distance. Everyone had visited him, to his dismay. Lindsay had insisted on taking him to his physical therapy sessions. He had actually been overjoyed to find out that Lindsay cared so much, but he couldn't stand the fact that being near him might put her in harm's way.

'God,' he thought to himself as he pushed his way through the big glass doors, into the lab, 'this is such a mess. How am I gonna get outta this?' He made his way into the break room.

Danny was snapped away from his grim thoughts when he heard a shout- several shouts actually. He nearly jumped out of his skin.

"Welcome back, Danny!" everyone yelled.

Danny looked on in surprise as Stella and Lindsay both walked up and hugged him. Mac, Don, Hawkes, and Sid all gave him pats on the back. Adam walked up hesitantly, and gave him an awkward half-hug.

Danny looked at the table in the corner. It had a small cake on it and several cartons of his favorite Chinese food. "Seriously guys?" he asked.

Ignoring his comment, Hawkes asked, "How has your first day back been so far?"

He looked at Hawkes, confusedly, "You mean the four minutes I been here?" Danny rubbed his chin and looke up thoughfully, before sarcastically replying, "I walked in, then I decided to go to the break room to get a water bottle, then you guys popped out and nearly scared me to death. So… so far? It's been okay I guess."

They all laughed. Although, Danny had to force it.

"We're all glad to have ya back, Danno" said Flack.

Danny flinched at the nickname. He saw a flash of Tom staring down at him with a wicked grin on his face. He blinked… the image was gone.

His odd reaction to the name had not gone unnoticed by Mac, "Are you alright, Danny?"

"Yeah, of course." quickly changing the subject, he said, "What can I do? I been cooped up in my apartment for ages, I jus' wanna work." Danny forced himself to look his boss in the eyes.

Mac studied Danny carefully. "If you're sure you're up to it, you can start with helping Adam in trace." He noticed the dark rings under his eyes, but other than that, nothing appeared to be wrong. Mac knew though, that looks could be deceiving.

"Great." said Danny, "Can you guys save a piece o' the cake for me? I ain't hungry right now."

"Sure, Danny" said Lindsay.

Danny nodded, "I'll be in trace." he said, before turning around and heading toward the trace lab.

They all slowly filtered out of the room. Only Mac and Stella remained.

"Do you think it might be too early for him to be back, Mac?"

"I'm not sure, Stella. Physically, he looks fine, but we both know that's not the problem."

"How did he do on the psych. eval.?" she asked.

"He passed, but the doc wrote some notes in the comments section of the form. They were…" he tried to find the right word, "troubling."

"What did they say?"

"They mentioned things like 'possible repression' and 'post-trauma anxiety'. The doctor made it sound like Danny had PTSD" Mac sounded worried.

Stella thought for a moment, "Well… that wouldn't be to far of a stretch, would it? I mean, Danny went through a lot. I'd be surprised if he didn't have _some_ sort of trouble. I think that, for now anyways, we should just support him. Don't try to make him remember. Right now, he is just trying to forget what happened."

"But can't just _forget_" said Mac, "he needs to face what happened to him, it's the only way he will get over this."

"I know, Mac. But right now, he is dealing with it in his own way. When he needs help, we'll be there."

Mac sighed, "I guess so, but I'm still going to keep an eye on him"

Stella laughed softly, "I wouldn't expect anything less from you, Mac."

-

It was now almost 8pm. Danny felt himself beginning to tire. He was filling out paper work, one of the few things Mac would let him do without some one supervising him. Every few minutes, his head would fall down, eyes closed. His chin would hit his chest and his eyes would snap back open. He was going through this same cycle for about the tenth time, when a shrill ringing nearly made him jump from his chair.

He picked up his cell phone and brought it to his ear, "Messer." he said with a tired voice.

"Heya, Danno! How ya been?"

Danny nearly dropped the phone. "To- Tom?" he could barely speak. The fear was almost overwhelming.

"Yeah, Danny, it's me." he said "Ya remember our little agreement? Well, it's time for yer first job."

Danny felt his mouth go dry. Job? What the hell did that mean?

"Ya still there, Danno? I ain't got all day." said Tom, the irritation evident in his tone.

Danny finally found his voice. Closing his eyes, he whispered, "Yeah, I'm still here."

Tom chuckled, "Good, meet me behind the club 'Oscurita'. I'll give ya the details. Be there in twenty minutes."

Danny heard a click, signaling the end of the conversation. With shaking hands, he closed his phone. Trying not to think, he grabbed his jacket. He would have grabbed his gun and badge if he had them. His badge had been lost at some point during the abduction. He'd not yet had the opportunity to fill out the forms for a replacement. He hadn't even brought his gun in. He was working in the lab; he had told himself that he didn't _need_ a gun in the lab.

He scoffed at his own stupidity.

* * *

-

It took Danny about fifteen minutes to get through the New York traffic to the seedy club.

He looked at the building. 'Huh, Oscurita,' he thought, translating the Italian word in his head. "Darkness." he said aloud.

He jumped when he heard a voice behind him, "Very good, Danny-boy. I never woulda thought ya remembered any o' that italian crap."

Danny kept his head down, looking at the asphalt. He didn't want to admit it, but he was terrified of this man. He was ashamed. 'I_ should_ tear this guy limb from limb for what he did to me.' he thought. He wanted to. For the first time in his life, Danny wanted to kill some one, but he couldn't. No matter how angry he was, the overwhelming fear he felt would always win out.

Come on, Danny. We're goin' back here" he pointed to the alley behind the club, "We need a little privacy." he smirked.

With out a word, his head still bowed, Danny obeyed, hating himself for it the whole time. 'But if I don't, they'll hurt Lindsay' he told himself.

Once they had gotten to the end of the alley, Tom pulled out a file folder from his jacket pocket. "Here's yer first job, Danno. It ain't too complicated. Ya jus' gotta find some evidence an' get rid of it. No big deal, right?" Tom saw that Danny was still keeping his eyes on the ground.

Faster than Danny could blink, Tom drove his clenched fist into his gut, "_Look_ at me when I'm talkin' to you!"

Danny fell to the ground with a grunt. He wrapped both arms around his stomach, trying to will the pain away.

"Yer pathetic." Tom spat. "Get up." He grabbed Danny's arm and wrenched him back up to his feet.

Still holding his stomach, Danny looked at Tom's face. He seemed to be enjoying this.

Danny, trying to hide his fear, roughly said, "Jus' give me the damn file, ya bastard. I'm already doin' this. What more do ya want?"

In another fit of rage, Tom threw another punch at Danny, this time at his face.

Once again, the force of the blow knocked Danny to the ground.

Tom looked down at Danny, an emotionless mask on his face, "Watch yer mouth, Messer. Jus' get the job done an' we won't hafta hurt that pretty girlfriend o' yers."

Letting out a smirk, Tom tossed the folder to the ground in front of Danny. He then turned and walked away.

After watching to ensure that Tom was really gone, Danny looked down at the file before him. Still trembling, Danny shakily opened the folder to see its contents.

'Damnit' he thought, reading the name of the victim and other information.

It was the Thompson case. Mac and Lindsay had been working on it. The body of a young girl, still in her teens, had been found in the bad part part of Staten Island. According to Sid's findings, the poor girl had been raped and then brutally beaten to death.

'Did Tom or some one else from Tanglewood have something to do with this girl's murder?' asked Danny.

He closed the folder and placed it on the ground.

It took Danny a few minutes before he was able to get to his feet again. Head once again down, and holding his stomach, it took him a few moments to gain his bearing. Quickly picking up the folder, Danny made his way to the street. Once there, he set out looking for the closest bar.

-

More is soon to come.

Please review!! :)


	20. Chapter 20

I so many reviews!!! THANK YOU!!!

I hope you enjoy it!

**Chapter Twenty**

After a about thirty minutes of wandering, Danny was able to find a bar. A bruise was already starting to form on the left side of his jaw and the bartender gave him a wary look. Danny slapped down a few bills, "Strongest thing ya got."

Despite his physical appearance, the bartender took Danny's money and placed a full bottle and a glass on the counter in front of him. "Thanks," he mumbled.

He rarely drank whiskey. In fact, he could count the number of times he'd had whiskey on one hand. When his mother had died, when his father had died, and right after he had lost his chance at a baseball career, due to a shattered ulna.

'I think the situation is appropriate' he thought as he gulped down the first glass. He almost gagged as the golden liquid burned his throat. He was really more of a beer kind of guy.

He laughed when a memory popped into his head.

_*flashback*_

_Danny, Lindsay, and Flack were investigating at the scene of a murder. A chef had been found dead in the wine cellar._

_After going over the basic information pertinent to their investigation, Danny asked what he had been thinking since he had arrived_

_"So this is where they house the million dollar grape juice, huh?" _

_To Danny's surprise, Flack commented first, "Are ya kiddin' me? This place is amazin'." Flack listed some of the wines he was examining, "The wine in this vault, Dan, is worth tens o' thousands o' dollars."_

_Danny couldn't help but scoff at his blue eyed friend, "What do know?"_

_"Flack," said Lindsay, smiling, "I think Danny's kind of wine is the house kianti" She and Don both laughed at his expense._

_Danny didn't know what exactly Lindsay had just said, but he knew when he was being made fun of, so he quickly retorted._

_"Now that's where yer wrong. My favorite kind of wine… is beer."_

_All three detectives laughed._

_*end flashback*_

He couldn't help but laugh again at the memory.

He missed those kind of moments. Ever since he flew all the way to Montana to help Lindsay get through the trial with Katums, they had actually been quite comfortable with each other, but what happened to him had ruined everything. He'd been paranoid ever since he'd gotten out of the hospital. He'd also been terrified that Lindsay would get hurt if she stayed around him… or worse.

With these thoughts repeating over and over in his mind, Danny managed to gulp down about half the bottle of whiskey. The bartender walked up.

"I think you've had enough, man" he grabbed the bottle and put it back on the shelf behind him.

Despite the fact that he was quite drunk, Danny was not in the mood to cause a commotion, so he merely nodded. He stood up, rather unsteadily, pulled out a couple more bills to cover the costs of the alcohol, laid them on the bar, and staggered out of the building.

Two hours later, after wandering around the city, trying to remember where _exactly_ his apartment was located, Danny stumbled in through his front door, clumsily took off his shoes and jacket, and then promptly passed out on the couch. The case file was still tightly gripped in his right hand.

-

Uh oh...

Unfortunately, I will not be able to get to a computer until Monday. I am going on this big camping trip with my ecology class. :)

Oh, and I DID find my flashdrive. :)

Please review!


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter Twenty-one**

*knock, knock, knock*

'What the hell is that?' thought Danny, groggily.

He had just opened his eyes. His mind was still quite fuzzy. After ascertaining that he was still on the lumpy couch in his living room, Danny tried to figure out exactly where that loud knocking had come from.

*knock, knock, knock*

There it was again!

After a few moments of silent pondering, Danny thought that it might be helpful if he sat up.

However, that was easier said than done. When Danny tried to lift himself from the confines of his couch cushions, he quickly found himself falling. A split second later, he looked around and found that he was on the floor, his legs still propped up on the sofa

'What…?' he thought, but was cut off.

*knock, knock, knock*

This time the odd noise was also accompanied by a deep voice.

"Danny! Come on, man. I know yer in there! Open up!"

It was Flack's voice.

Danny shook his head at himself. He had obviously drunken more alcohol than he should have last night…

"Oh, God," he said aloud. "_Last night._" Suddenly, all the memories of the night before rushed back into his mind. What Tommy had done. What he had to do...

"_Oh no_" Danny said aloud again.

Apparently, Danny had said just loud enough for the detective outside to hear.

"Danny? You alright, man?" Don's voice was becoming frantic.

Not wanting to arouse his friend's suspicions, Danny quickly scrambled up from the floor and toward the door.

He heard Don's sigh of relief as the door opened a few inches. Danny peered through the opening at his best friend.

"What the hell were ya doin' in there, Danny? I been knockin' for a while." asked Flack.

Trying to sound casual, Danny responded, "What do ya think I was doin'? I was sleepin'. Why're ya here so early, Don?" He kept the right half of his face hidden, so Don wouldn't see the dark bruise that had formed.

"Early?" Flack gave him an odd look, "Dan it's almost three pm. Mac sent me down here when ya didn't show up at the lab."

Danny put his head in his hands. "Crap, Mac must be so pissed-"

Don cut him off, "Don' worry 'bout Mac. He said ya were probably tired after yer first day back and slept right through yer alarm." The detective took a good look at his smaller friend, "I'm guessin' that's not what happened, though." Danny looked like the epitome of hungover. His eyes were bloodshot and he looked like he had a didn;t even want to think about the distinct scent of whiskey that had assaulted his senses as soon as Danny had opened the door.

"How much did ya drink last night, Danny?" Now Flack looked slightly worried, "Should ya really be drinkin' with the pain meds yer on for yer hand?"

"I stopped takin' those a few days ago," Danny lied. He would still take them if the pain got unbearable.

"That's not the point, Danny." said Flack, "Ya shouldn't be drinkin' this much, even if yer not on any meds. I mean, ya look like crap! What the hell made ya wanna drink yerself into oblivion last night?" He was truly curious.

"That's none o' yer business, Flack." said Danny, coldly.

Don quirked his eyebrows in surprise at Danny's defensiveness. He raised his arms in surrender, "Alright, alright, I get it. Ya don' wanna talk 'bout it." He gave the blond investigator a hard look, "Jus' promise me I ain't gonna find ya like this again."

"Yeah, yeah. I promise." It took all of Danny's will not break down right there.

"I better not. Listen, Mac said ya don' have to come in today. Jus' make sure yer on time tomorrow."

Danny nodded, silently.

Until then, Don hadn't really noticed that he could only see half of Danny's face. He became suspicious.

Taking a step back, Flack firmly said, "Danny, come into the hallway."

"What?" Danny's voice cracked. 'What is Flack up to?' he wondered.

"Ya heard me. Stop hidin' behind the door. I wanna see somethin'."

Letting out a heavy sigh, he complied.

As the bruises marring Danny's face were revealed, Flack gasped.

"What the hell, Danny?" Flack took a step closer to inspect the angry marks. "What the fuck did ya do?"

Danny took a step back, trying to come up with a plausible excuse. "I… uh… some guy last night punched me."

"What? Why?" asked Flack, expecting more details.

"I don' know," said Danny, "last night's still kinda fuzzy."

Flack, still not sure if he believed Danny's story, let out a breath, "I bet it is."

Not wanting to be interrogated any further, Danny said, "Look, not that this ain't been fun an' all, but I still got a massive headache. So…"

Understanding Danny's less than subtle hints, Flack nodded, "Yeah, I'll go, but I better see ya tomorrow. We ain't done with this conversation."

"Whatever." said Danny, as he closed the door in Flack's face.

Having never seen his friend in such a mood, Flack stood in the hallway, stunned, before trudging back toward the elevator.

Inside his apartment, Danny had finally been unable to hold it in any longer.

He slumped down to the ground, his back against the door.

"This is so fucked up." he told himself.

-

People are starting to get suspicious of Danny's actions......... DUN DUN DUN

Please review! :)


	22. Chapter 22

I must say, _**dannymesserforever11 **_and _**HSMSupernatural**_, I am ecstatic that you like my story so much that you give so many glowing reviews. Seriously... I'm blushing. :D

And of course, thank you to anyone else who reviewed. It really means a lot. Those of you who also write probably know what I mean. ;)

Another kind of short one, but what can I say? My creativity seems to come in small bursts. Plus, ya'll would have to wait longer for individual updates if I extended the chapters....

I hope you enjoy it!!

**Chapter twenty-two**

The next morning, Danny walked into the lab with his head down. His hands were stuffed in the pockets of his favorite leather jacket and he was hunched over, partly out of shame and partly trying to hide the dark bruise that still marred the right side of his face.

Danny was still feeling slightly off as he walked in. He wasn't sure if it was because of the lingering hangover, the after-effects of Tom's punches, or because of what he knew he was about to do.

Looking around every few seconds, making sure no one was watching him, Danny made his way to the evidence locker.

Once there, Danny made his way through the shelves, looking for the box he needed. Finally finding it, Danny just stared at it for several minutes.

'Am I really going to do this?' Danny asked himself, 'If Mac found out…' He shuddered at the thought. Though his relationship with his boss had become more relaxed over the last few years he had worked for him, Danny had to admit that Mac was actually still quite intimidating. At first, he had seemed like the stereotypical overly strict supervisor. 'Now he's more like a demanding father figure.' Danny thought.

Thinking of Mac as a father figure made Danny feel even guiltier. He wasn't just betraying his colleagues, he was betraying his _family_.

He had started shaking by the time he was able to force himself to reach for the cardboard box that contained the evidence for the Thompson case.

With trembling hands, he took off the lid and peered at the contents of the box. Inside were several clear plastic evidence bags. They held the victim's clothes, as well as several items and trace materials found around the crime scene.

Looking around one more time to ensure that he was still alone, Danny slipped the evidence bags into the inside pocket of his jacket. With a forced blank face, Danny shoved the now empty box back onto the shelf and quickly walked out of the room.

Once he got to the hallway, he struggled to keep from hyperventilating. Still keeping a fast pace, Danny made his way toward the nearest exit. He thought that if someone didn't notice his odd behavior, they would surely hear his racing heart beat. He could feel his chest pounding with every step and it sounded like a jackhammer in his head.

Once out in the open air, Danny walked, then jogged, and then sprinted as far away from the lab as he could get. He kept running, despite the burning pressure that was beginning to build up in his chest, signaling that his lungs needed more oxygen. Once he had gotten several blocks away from the lab, Danny turned into a deserted alley way. Once again looking around to check if he were still alone, Danny made his way through the filth and debris that littered the ground. Finding an empty trashcan, he dumped all the evidence into it. He looked at each and every item before taking out a match. Trying not to think about what he was doing, he lit it, and threw it in on top of everything else. It took a few moments, but the items in the trashcan soon caught fire. He stared as the plastic melted and the fabric burned.

After watching the flames for a few seconds, Danny finally broke. He fell to the ground with his hands in his head, tears streaming down his face. "What have I done?" he asked himself out loud. He quickly reminded himself of the alternatives. A bullet in the head and God only knows what Tom would do to Lindsay. But he still couldn't shake the horrible feeling that he had just committed the worst sin possible.

After taking a few more long moments to compose himself, Danny lifted his tired body from the filthy asphalt. He wiped away the tears and, without much thought, said, "I really need a smoke." The realization surprised him. He hadn't smoked since Mac had basically forced him to quit, nearly six years ago. He had actually been trying to get Louie to quit too. But right now, Danny really didn't care about any health risk. He just needed to feel the nicotine flowing through his system. It had always calmed him down when he'd been in college and at the academy, especially when finals had come around. Surely it would have the same calming effect now?

Danny trudged out of the alleyway and spotted a small corner store across the street.

"Perfect," he muttered to himself.

Jogging across the semi-empty road, Danny reached the store and went inside, looking for a release from the tension, guilt and shame he felt clouding his mind.

Without much thought, he grabbed the first brand he saw. After quickly paying for them, He rushed outside and ripped open the thin cardboard packaging. Taking out another match, he hurriedly lit the end of one of the cigarettes and took a long deep drag. He nearly gagged as he felt the cancerous smoke flow down his throat. He'd quit years ago, so his body wasn't use to the gaseous substance any more. He felt his eyes water as he blew the smoke out his nostrils. His body suddenly seemed to cease its trembling. As the nicotine coursed through his veins and the smoke filled his lungs, he felt he could finally breathe again. Unfortunately, the feeling of overwhelming guilt remained.

'But at least now I can actually think' he thought to himself.

He took another long drag from the cigarette as another thought came to his mind.

'Do I really _want _to think about anything right now?'

-

Soon to come... The team wonders why their favorite investigator smells like smoke and Lindsay tries to comfort an obviously distressed Danny.

*** Smoking is BAD. You should not smoke. I am merely using Danny's smoking to show him beginning to self-destruct. I do not approve of smoking. (If anyone reading this does smoke, I don't mean to sound insulting. I know it's your own choice.)

Please review!! :)


	23. Chapter 23

I feel the need to tell you all, I had this whole story planned out, even how I was going to end it. But I recently realized that the ending I had in mind made absolutely NO sense. It's not like I'm going to give up, but there might be longer periods of time in between posts in the future while I'm still coming up with ideas. I'll do my best though. I know how frustrating it is to be reading a story and the it's just never finished. I promise, I will never do that. Not if I can help it. :) :)

I hope you enjoy it!!

**Chapter Twenty-three**

Mac Taylor was happy to see Danny walking in on time.

He watched as his investigator shuffled into the evidence storage room. It seemed like Danny was trying to be invisible. Mac's eyebrows furrowed at the notion.

The evening before, he had received a rather worrying phone call from Don.

_*flashback*_

_Mac had answered his phone as soon as he had seen the name 'Don Flack' on the caller ID_

_"Hey, Don. I was just about to call you. Have you gone to check up on Danny yet?"_

_There was a slight pause before his friend replied, which worried Mac. "Yeah, I did, Mac… Listen, don't be too mad at 'im alright? He's been through a lo-"_

_Mac cut him off, alarmed at the detective's words, "Flack," his voice was very serious, "is Danny okay?"_

_Mac heard a deep sigh on the other end and waited for flack to speak._

_"Yeah, Mac, he's okay, but… well… he was kinda… hung over."_

_Anger exploded in Mac's voice, "WHAT!? That's why he missed work? Because he was out drinking last night? Flack, what the he-"_

_This time it was Don interrupting Mac, "Mac, calm down. Look, Danny was hung over, but it wasn't just that… He looked… I don' know how else to explain it. He looked depressed, Mac. I'm worried. And…" Flack trailed off._

_Mac was worried now, he had seen Danny struggling since he had been released from the hospital, but that was to be expected. "And…?" Mac prompted Flack to continue._

_"While we were talkin', I noticed he was tryin' ta hide the right side of his face. When I finally got a good look at 'im, it looked like some one had tried to pound his face in." Mac could hear Flack's voice catch. The supervisor knew how much Danny really meant to Don, not just as a colleague, or even a friend. Don loved Danny like a brother. Flack continued, "There was this big bruise coverin' most of the right side of his jaw. Danny told me he got it when some drunk punched 'im,… but I don't believe 'im. I mean, he wouldn't even look me in the eyes. I don' know what the hell is goin' on with 'im, Mac. It's drivin' me crazy." Flack was now almost yelling in to his phone at that point._

_Several scenarios rushed through Mac's head as to what might be troubling Danny and how he might have sustained the bruises Flack had spoken of. None of the scenarios were very pleasant._

_Despite his worry, Mac knew he had to remain the calm, clear-headed detective everyone saw him as. "Flack, calm down, alright? When Danny comes in tomorrow, we can both have a talk with him. I know you're worried… I am too, but we can't jump to any conclusions."_

_Flack let out a frustrated sigh, "Alright, Mac… I guess I'll see ya tomorrow mornin'."_

_"Okay. bye, Flack." said Mac_

_"Bye"_

_*click*_

_Mac looked at the phone in his hand._

_'What's going on with Danny?' he wondered._

_*end flashback*_

Coming out of his reverie, Mac looked back through the glass wall of his office only to see Danny scurrying out of the building. From where he was standing, Mac had been able to just make out the red and purple mark on Danny's face. Flack had been right. That bruise didn't come from a single blow from some drunken stranger. It was too large.

Mac waited for twenty minutes, expecting Danny to walk back in through the doors. His shift was about to begin, and surely Danny knew he needed to be there on time, considering he had basically played hooky the day before.

He waited another ten minutes and he began to feel fear tickling the back of his mind. 'Where _is _he?' thought Mac.

At that moment, Danny Messer re-entered the building. Mac felt himself sigh in relief. But the relief quickly drained away when he saw Danny's face. His eyes were red and puffy, as though he had been crying and he looked un-naturally pale.

Mac stuck his head out of his office and called out, quietly, not wanting to gain any unwanted attention. "Danny." the investigator's head snapped up at the sound of his name. "Could you come into my office?"

Flack was right about Danny seeming off. Mac had always found it an admirable trait that Danny always looked people in the eyes, even if they weren't talking.

But this morning, Danny continued to keep his head down. His eyes were glued to the linoleum floors.

It irritated Mac. "Danny," he said, trying to sound gentle, "please look at me." At his request, Danny lifted his head and looked up. He couldn't trick the supervisor though. 'I didn't become the head detective of the most prestigious crime lab in the country for nothing.' thought Mac.

Danny still wasn't looking him in the eye. His gaze was fixed directly over his shoulder. Mac decided not to push anymore.

"Come on in, Danny." I said, motioning into my office. "Just sit down for now. We're waiting for somebody.

As the young CSI passed by me, Mac was hit with a surprising scent. Was that smoke?

He watched Danny closely as he took a seat in one of the chairs sitting in front of Mac's desk

He looked at him curiously, "Danny?" Mac asked cautiously, "Why do you smell like smoke?" He saw his body tense at the question. At that moment he took the opportunity to look closely at him.

Mac held back a surprised gasp when he saw what was swimming in those sea blue eyes.

Nothing

'God,' thought Mac, 'I was wrong when I said Danny was doing okay emotionally.' From a distance, Danny looked like he was doing alright, but his eyes told a different story.

Gone was the spark that Mac had come to expect see when he looked at his CSI, and the sadness that had replaced it was all Mac needed to know that Don had been right to worry.

Still trying to keep things at least close to normal, Mac asked again, "Why do you smell like smoke?" Danny still remained silent. Mac was getting angry, "Danny, I want an answer _now._" He already knew the answer, but he wanted Danny to say it.

The younger CSI couldn't find it in himself to admit to Mac that he had bought a pack of cigarettes for the first time in six years. After all, it had been Mac who had gotten him to quit in the first place. His first year in the lab had been quite stressful, and his new boss noticed that Danny would usually go outside every hour or two, for just a few minutes for a smoke. Mac had confronted him. Danny had expected his new supervisor to chew him out for wasting his time when he should have been working. Instead, Mac had shown a softer side that Danny hadn't been ready for. He had simply told Danny that he was concerned. Danny was shocked to hear his boss ask him to quit. It hadn't been a demand or an order. Feeling the need to prove himself, Danny had complied. He had quit cold turkey. A fact he had been quite proud of, actually.

Still faced with silence, Mac said, "You started smoking again, didn't you."

"Yes." Danny admitted quietly, even though the disappointment in Mac's voice made him want to run away.

Mac let out a breath. 'At least he actually said something.' he told himself.

At that moment, Don walked into the office. He took one look at Danny and gave a questioning look to Mac, as if to say, 'What did you do?'

Mac silently shrugged his shoulders.

Don sat down in the chair right next to Danny, trying to get a better read on how his friend was doing.

Mac began speaking again, "Look, Danny, I don't care about the smoking." Don's head shot up at his words, but Mac shook his head, telling the detective to drop it for now. "I... _We _just want to know what's wrong." Danny seemed to have lapsed back into another period of silence. "Don told me what happened. Why were you drinking so much, Danny? And how did you really get that bruise? We're just worried. You know you can talk to either one of us."

Danny, deciding his silence was probably hurting more than helping finally spoke again. "'Course I know that, Mac." His eyes were still clouded with sadness.

Don and Mac gave each other worried looks.

"C'mon, man," said Don, "we can tell somethin' is goin' on. We jus' wanna help. We can't help ya if you don't tell us what's goin' on, Danno."

Danny visibly tensed at the nickname, which both Mac and Don noticed.

Through the shame and guilt he had been drowning in, Danny suddenly felt very angry. 'This ain't none o' their business.' He thought to himself. As he spoke, he couldn't stop the anger from showing. "You guys don't need to worry 'bout nothin'. I'm fine."

Flack gave him a hard look, "Danny, based on what I saw from yer hangover, you didn't just have a couple beers the night before. You got frickin' _wasted_." Don also seemed to be getting angry with the situation. "Why did you feel the need to drink yerself into oblivion?" he asked.

"Like I said before, Flack, it's none o' yer business"

"That's where yer wrong, Messer." said Flack, softly this time. "Yer my best friend. That makes it my business."

Danny's anger was suddenly gone. The guilt and shame were back to the forefront of his mind. 'Stop being such a dick' he told himself. 'These guys are yer friends.'

"Danny," said Mac, seriously "how did you get that bruise? Flack told me what you said happened, but we know that's not the truth."

Once again, Danny looked down, "Some idiot in a bar socked me, I-"

Mac cut him off, "Damnit, Danny, don't you lie to me. That bruise was _not _caused by a single blow from some drunk. Tell. Me. What. Really. Happened."

Danny sighed, "Some guy attacked me in an alley." He said. 'That's technically not a lie.' he told himself.

Don and Mac could tell that Danny was finally being truthful, but he was obviously still holding back.

"Did you know the guy?" asked Flack.

"I uh… I don' know. I didn't see his face." He said.

Deciding to ignore the fact that Danny was lying again, Mac sighed. "Were you hurt anywhere else, Danny?"

"Yeah," replied Danny. He figured it wouldn't do any harm for them to know. "My ribs got kinda banged up."

"Do you need a doctor?" asked Flack.

"Nah, it's fine."

Letting out a breath, Mac stood up and walked toward the door. "Follow me, Danny."

Not wanting to make his boss any more angry (not to mention suspicious), Danny obeyed. Don got up and followed them.

Not much of a cliff hanger... Oh well.

You guys want to hear something funny? I was trying to remember the title of this one story so that I could read it again. I remembered this one scene that I had really liked, but I couldn't for the life of me remember which story it was from. After days of fruitless searching, I gave up. Then, yesterday, I was re-reading this story, to make sure I wasn't contradicting myself or anything and guess what? There it was!!! It had been MY story!! I couldn't believe it! I had written it and then forgotten about it. The human brain is so weird. :) :)

If you feel inclined to review, please leave an embarrassing story like mine for us all to read. You know you want to!!! :)

Please review!! :)


	24. Chapter 24

Thanks for your reviews guys!!! :)

I hope you enjoy it!! :)

**Chapter twenty-four**

Danny was getting more and more worried as he followed his boss through the lab. 'Where the hell is he takin' me?' he thought.

Every few seconds, he would feel like he should run away. That idea was quickly eliminated though whenever he looked over his shoulder and saw Flack walking right behind him, watching him like a hawk. He sighed and looked down again, 'If I try an' run, Don will probably give me a few more bruises to add to my collection.'

Don was actually curious as to where Mac was taking them as well, but he was more worried about Danny making a run for it.

Finally, they all arrived at their destination. Mac looked at Danny, "In. Now." he said, pointing to the door of the locker room, leaving no room for argument.

Looking almost like a small child being sent to his room, Danny obeyed. Flack went to follow, but Mac stopped him.

"Don," he said, "it would probably be best if you stayed out here. Just make sure no one comes in."

Still not understanding what exactly Mac was planning on doing, Flack nodded.

Mac turned and followed Danny into the locker room. Mac found Danny sitting on the bench inside.

"Stand up, Danny."

"Mac, what are we-" he started.

"I said stand up."

Danny stood up.

"Lift up your shirt." he said.

Danny looked at Mac, bewildered. "What? Mac, what the hell are ya doin'? I told ya, I'm fine."

Mac looked down, a frustrated look on his face, "Danny, just humor me here. I need to make sure that you're really okay. You said that your ribs had been hurt as well. I need to make sure that you don't need to go to the hospital." Mac looked at Danny expectantly. When Danny didn't move, he added, "If you don't do this, we can just go to the hospital and have a doctor-"

Danny cut him off, "Fine, fine. Geez, Mac. Ya know I hate hospitals." He slowly lifted up his shirt. Mac got closer to get a better look.

"Jesus Christ, Danny."

Danny stayed silent. Despite the fact that Tom had only hit him once in the gut, the force of the blow had caused a large, painful bruise to form.

Mac took Danny's shoulders and gently pushed him into a sitting position on the bench. He then took a seat right next to him. As gently as he could, Mac ran his hand up Danny's injured side, looking for broken ribs.

Danny hissed in pain, "Damnit, Mac." he swatted his boss' hand away, "I said it was fine. You really think I would come to work with broken ribs?"

Mac let Danny pull his shirt back down and looked him directly in the eye. "I want you to tell me the truth, Danny. All of it." his voice was still softer than usual, as if he were talking to a child.

Danny looked down at his shoes, "I told ya what happened, Mac. Some jackass took me by surprise in an alley."

"Yes, you told us that, but Flack and I have known you long enough to know when you're lying or when you're holding something back." he paused, waiting for Danny to look at him, when the blond detective finally raised his head, he continued, "Danny, it isn't the drinking or the smoking that worries me, although I don't like them either. What worries me most is that you were attacked and you don't seem to care if the person responsible is caught. The Danny Messer I know would never let anybody get away with something like that. I think that you knew your attacker..."

Danny's mind was racing, 'Please, please, please, God. If Mac figures it out and Tom finds out that Mac's figured it out then... Lindsay...' his thoughts continued disjointedly.

Suddenly, Danny whimpered, "Mac, please leave it alone. I can deal with it on my own." Without another word, Danny abruptly stood up and walked toward the door.

"Danny, wait!" shouted Mac.

Danny ignored him as he shoved his way through the door and into the halls. Mac could see Flack and, unfortunately, Lindsay standing there, watching as Danny scurried toward the exit. Mac walked toward both of them.

"Mac," started Don, "what the hell happened?"

"I don't know," he replied, "but I don't trust Danny to take care of himself right now. I want you to follow him. But make sure he doesn't see you."

Flack nodded and took off in the direction that Danny had gone, leaving only Lindsay and Mac.

For the first time in the whole ordeal, Lindsay spoke, "Mac?" she asked quietly, "What's going on with Danny?"

Mac's answer was cut off by Don running back in.

"Mac," he said, out of breath, "Danny's gone. By the time I got out there, his car was already gone."

"What the hell is going on?" asked Lindsay, still confused.

"Danny's in some trouble Linds," said Flack, "and he won' let us help 'im."

Mac let out a frustrated sigh, "Do you have any ides where he might have gone, Don?"

"The only places I can think of are his apartment and a couple different bars that we sometimes hang out at."

"Go check them. If he's not at any of those places, than call me. We'll go on from there."

Flack nodded and ran off again.

Suddenly, Lindsay spoke up again, "I think I might know where he is."

1-1-1-1-1-1

The next few chapters will have some actual D/L in it... Just to let you know. :)

Please review!! :) :D :P ;)


	25. Chapter 25

Hey, ya'll!! As always, thanks for the reviews.

You know how I took the ACTs a while back? Well, I got the scores back. I got a composite score of 29 (That's good, right?) But get this, I got a freaking **36 **on the reading section of the tests (Go me!! :)) Ironically, despite how much I love writing, I only got a 23 on the writing portion, which isn't bad, but I thought I'd do better. (I've been showing all my teachers my score. I'm so proud!!!)

My scores were as follows;

English--**24**

Mathematics--**27**

Reading--**36****

Science--**29**

Writing--**23**

I know, it's kinda weird that I'd tell you guys this, but I've been telling everyone, so why not?

_Anyways_...

I hope you enjoy it!!

**Chapter twenty-five**

Lindsay Munroe wrapped her coat tightly around herself as she traveled down the crowded sidewalks. According to her supervisor, Danny needed help, and she would be damned if she didn't try her best to help him as much as possible.

They had been making a habit of sharing a meal together at least once a week. Of course, that had been before his abduction. Now, it seemed almost like Danny was avoiding her.

Lindsay walked through the door of the small family run bar and shed her coat. Immediately, she spotted him. He was in the corner booth, nursing what was obviously not his first beer. That got Lindsay worried. It wasn't unusual for Danny to drink. In fact, she, herself, had joined him for a few drinks on more than one occasion. But this was different. This was Danny, drinking alone, at eleven o'clock in the morning. Not to mention the mask of utter despair he was wearing.

Still standing in the door way, Lindsay let the investigator in her take over. Danny did not look good. His hair was a mess, his clothes were rumpled, and he was unusually pale. Lindsay had heard, through the grapevine at the lab, about the bruise Danny had come in with, but that didn't make it any less of a shock to actually see it. His ashen skin only worked to make it more pronounced on his jaw. His left hand was still encased in a light brace. He appeared to be in pain as he gripped his side with his good arm and lifted the beer to his lips with the other.

Slowly, she made her way over to him.

"Hey." She said, uncertain.

He looked up at her and then looked back down, mumbling out, "Did Mac send ya?"

Feeling it would be okay, Lindsay slid into the booth, taking a seat right next to him, "No," she lied, "I figured you might be here, and we haven't really been doing our weekly meal. So I thought I'd take the opportunity." She was trying to be as casual as possible, not wanting to upset him.

He seemed to relax at those words, but there was still an underlying current of tension that seemed to run under his skin. She could tell something was definitely bothering him, but she hadn't the faintest idea what it could be. After the abduction, Danny had been forced to take a psychological evaluation, and he had passed, obviously. Otherwise he would not be working in the lab right now. But he didn't have PTSD or anything like that.

'So why is he acting like this?' she wondered, 'Did something happen that we don't know about?'

Deciding to face it head on, Lindsay asked, "Danny, is something going on that we should know about?"

She was surprised when his breath hitched and he looked at her. The fear and shame she saw in his eyes made her freeze.

He looked back down quickly, taking a swig from his beer. He kept silent.

That unsettled Lindsay even more. Before the whole kidnapping ordeal, she usually had a hard time shutting him up. Not that she wanted him to shut up. She actually enjoyed their daily bickering.

"Danny, come on. I can tell something is wrong. We all can tell something is wrong. We just want to help. Don and Mac are really worried about you. I don't know any of the specifics, but I'm starting to worry too. This isn't like you." She put her hand on his forearm.

He pulled away. "You need to stay out of it, Linds, for your own safety. You should just stay as far away from me as possible."

"No, Danny." She said angrily, "You're scaring me, here. I want to know what's going on."

He looked at her with wide eyes. The alcohol was blurring his inhibitions. He wanted so badly to tell what was going on. That way she would be able to protect herself. But Danny was so terrified that Tom would somehow find out, he just froze at Lindsay's demand.

Lindsay noticed that Danny's hands started to tremble. "Danny," she said, gentler this time, "You need to tell me what is going on."

Finally, the floodgates broke. Suddenly, Danny couldn't keep the words from spilling from his mouth or the tears from trailing down his cheeks.

"He said they'd hurt you, Lindsay. I can't let that happen." His voice was slurring slightly.

"What? Who, Danny? Who said that?" She was alarmed by his words. She wasn't worried about her own safety at that point.

"Tommy." He couldn't help but let the information slip through his lips. His drunken mind assumed that Lindsay would understand his vague answer.

"Danny," she placed her hand on the un-bruised side of his face, making him look up at her, "Who is Tommy?"

Suddenly realizing what he just revealed, Danny's eyed widened, "Oh, God." He grabbed the bottle from the table and took another long gulp.

Lindsay decided that Danny was in no condition to answer any questions at that point. She figured that any answers she would get from him would be either very vague, or completely unintelligible.

Grabbing his shoulder, she hauled the drunken man up to his feet. "Come on, Danny. We're going to talk to Mac and try to work this whole thing out."

Danny took a moment to process what she had just told him. Finally understanding, he jerked away, falling back into the booth. He looked up at her. "No, Mac'll get mad at me. I betrayed you all. He'll yell at me… I don't like it when Mac yells at me." She couldn't help but think he looked and sounded like a child that was being scolded.

"Danny, Mac will only want to help." Said Lindsay, softly, "And he won't yell at you. I don't know exactly what's going on, but I know that you can't handle this on your own."

"You promise he won't yell at me?"

"Yes, Danny. I promise." Until that point, Lindsay had never realized how much Mac's approval mattered to Danny.

Hesitantly, and with immeasurable amounts of fear in his eyes, Danny lifted himself from the booth.

Afraid that he might stumble and fall, Lindsay looped her arm through his. This also allowed her to make sure he didn't bolt before they got back to the lab. "It'll be okay, Danny." she said, softly.

Slowly, they made their way back to the crime lab.

Lindsay only hoped that the trouble Danny had found himself in wasn't as bad as he had made it sound.

1-1--1-1-1-1--1

Sorry about the wait. I don't really have any real reason or excuse for it. :)

Please review!! :)


	26. Chapter 26

Over fifty reviews!!! Whoot!!!! Thanks SO much guys!! :D

I hope you guys like it!

**Chapter Twenty-six**

Mac Taylor was sitting in his office. He hadn't gotten any work done. In fact, he'd barely moved for the last two hours. His eyes were fixed to the main entrance of the crime lab, which he had a clear view of through the many glass walls. Mac Taylor was not a religious man, but he found himself hoping, _praying_, that the next person to walk through those doors would be Danny.

His prayers were finally answered when he saw Lindsay leading Danny into the building. Her arm was wrapped around his waist, apparently keeping him upright. Mac felt disappointment flood through his mind once more when he realized that the reason Danny needed the extra support was because he was wasted. Concern quickly drowned out the disappointment when he saw the tear tracks staining Danny's cheeks. Danny was by no means a 'sad drunk'. In fact, the few times Mac had actually seen Danny drunk, the man had seemed quite happy, though very clumsy.

He was about to get up and help Lindsay guide the inebriated detective to his office when Lindsay turned toward her and Danny's office. He watched closely as Lindsay hauled Danny through the door and shut it.

Thinking for a moment, Mac decided to leave them alone for the time being. After all, it had been Mac whom Danny had run away from in the first place. Somehow, Lindsay had been able, not only to locate Danny, but also convince him to come back with her to the lab. At least for now, he would let Lindsay try to care for Danny and what ever problems he may be facing.

* * *

Carefully, Lindsay let Danny fall onto the small couch that occupied the corner of their shared office. Almost immediately, he turned away from her and curled up. In his drunken haze, he had suddenly become very sleepy, which was odd, because usually, on the rare occasion that he got drunk, he was bouncing off the walls.

Seeing that he had already fallen asleep, Lindsay took off Danny's glasses, set them on his desk, and took a seat in her chair. She watched Danny sleep silently for a few moments, contemplating what her next move should be.

Of course, Mac would need to be informed that she had found the missing detective, but how should she go about doing that? It was obvious from Danny's drunken statements that he was terrified that Mac would be angry with him.

'What the hell has happened that he is actually _afraid_ to tell Mac about it?' she wondered.

How could she inform Mac of the situation while still keeping her promise to Danny?

'I guess I'll just have to wing it. I shouldn't hold this off any longer than necessary. Danny needs help as soon as possible.'

Her decision made, Lindsay got to her feet. Very quickly, she glanced at Danny's sleeping form. All of a sudden, she was reminded of her declaration of almost-love. She pushed the feelings away for the time being.

'Now's not the time.' she berated herself.

Shaking those thoughts from her mind, Lindsay made her way through out of their office and towards Mac's. She could clearly see him watching her as she approached his door. She walked in and quickly started talking, "Mac, I found Danny. He's uh… He's not doing too well."

"I know, Lindsay. I saw you two come in." Lindsay wasn't able to discern what the supervisor was feeling based on the tone of his voice.

She realized what he was trying to say. 'I know that Danny's drunk.'

"I think Danny may be willing to talk about what's really going on," she said. Mac's eyes widened in surprise, "but I can't let you talk to him until you promise me something." Mac was about to interrupt, but Lindsay raised her hand, silencing him immediately, "Listen, Mac. Danny is terrified that you will be angry with him. He said he doesn't want you to yell at him." she said pointedly.

"Lindsay…" Mac started.

"No, Mac, listen. Something is definitely wrong. The only thing I could get out of him was that 'They' had somehow threatened me."

"And who are 'They'?" asked Mac, frustrated and even more worried now that he knew another one of his CSIs may be in danger as well.

"I don't know. I'm pretty sure though, that the only reason I even got that much out of him is because he's completely wasted."

"Yeah, I noticed that." said Mac, angrily.

Noticing his anger, Lindsay said, "Mac, I can't let you talk to him until you promise me that you won't get mad at him. I mean this is Danny. Whatever he did can't be _that _bad. It's not like he killed someone ar anything, but still, whatever he says, you can't freak out…. I honestly don't think he would be able to handle it."

Sighing and looking down Mac agreed, "Okay, Lindsay, I promise. Is he able to talk right now, or should we let him sleep it off?"

"No, do it now. Like I said before, the only reason he's talking at all is because of the alcohol."

"Alright," said Mac, "let's get to it." Leaving his piles of paperwork to sit unfinished for just a while longer, Mac left his desk and followed Lindsay to the office where the aforementioned detective was sleeping.

1-1-1-1-1-1-1

Also, if you haven't already, try reading my other stories, 'They Don't Know' and 'Nesasio Coracao'. Neither are completed yet, but I'd love it if guys read them too. They are also Danny angst stories.

Please review!! :) :)


	27. Chapter 27

Thanks for the reviews, guys!!!

I hope you all like it!!!

**Chapter Twenty-seven**

Danny was woken up by some one shaking his shoulder roughly. He looked up to see Mac Taylor staring back down at him. Lindsay was standing right behind him, peering over his shoulder.

The alcohol was still flooding through his system, so he had kind of a hard time figuring out exactly where he was and what was happening.

"Danny." Although Mac's voice was gentle, the sound still seemed unnaturally loud and grating to Danny. "Danny, you need to wake up. We need to talk."

Slowly sitting up, Danny looked lazily around the room. He remained silent though.

"Danny, we need to talk about what's going on with you. From what you've already told Lindsay, we understand that this person, 'Tommy', forced you to do something. He said that if you didn't, he would hurt Lindsay." Numbly, Danny nodded. Mac leaned in, getting at eye level with Danny, "Danny we need to know more."

Danny sat there silently for a moment, staring at his shoes. "He told me not to say anything. Lindsay will get hurt. I _can't_ say anything."

Both Mac and Lindsay sighed. It was apparent that Danny was still drunk, but he wasn't being as forthcoming as they had hoped.

Lindsay tried to reason, "Danny, if I'm really in danger, than I can go away. Leave and go somewhere that they won't be able to find me." Danny stared at her, contemplating what she'd said.

"And you will be protected too, Danny." said Mac, "It's obvious to us that whoever this Tommy person is, he's the one that's been hurting you. But in order for us to be able to keep both of you safe, you need to tell us everything. First, start with who this guy is."

He hesitated for several moments. "I knew Tommy from when I was a kid. He's… he's a…" he could barely say it, "he's a Tanglewood boy."

"How did he contact you?" asked Mac, softly.

"He's… one of the guys that abducted me."

Mac bowed his head. 'Damnit,' he thought, 'I should have known.'

"What is Tommy's last name, Danny?" asked Lindsay, noticing Mac's frustration.

Danny answered in a monotone, "Giovinazzo." He seemed to have become indifferent to everything going on around him.

"Alright, Danny, we'll make sure both you and Lindsay are located somewhere safe, but first, you need to tell us one more thing… What did Tommy want you to do?"

Danny tensed up. "He… I… I betrayed you all." he said sadly, "I… I destroyed evidence." He whispered the last part. "The… the Thompson case."

"You WHAT?" Mac nearly yelled, "Danny, how could you-" Danny flinched away from his boss. Tears began to trail down his cheeks again. He quickly brought his knees to his chest and wrapped both arms around them. He leaned his head on his knees and started rocking back and forth.

Lindsay cut him off. "Mac," she said, angrily, "you promised."

Mac nodded at her guiltily and took a deep breath, trying to calm himself, "Danny… I'm sorry for yelling." Danny peeked out from his arms. "I'm very sorry, but… You need to realize how this will affect everything. I will do my best to protect you and your reputation, but this is going to be tough."

Hearing Mac's gentle voice and promises, Danny sat back up again and looked at him. Seeing an opportunity to comfort his detective, Mac sat down beside him. Careful not to startle the young man, Mac placed his hand on Danny's shoulder. Lindsay sat on the other side of Danny and did the same thing. "We need to know exactly what happened." said Mac.

Danny sucked in a trembling breath, "My… first day back, Tom called. He said it was time for my first job. We met behind some club called Oscurita. He gave me the case file, knocked me around a little, and left."

"Is that why Flack found you wasted the next day?" asked Lindsay, making Danny wince.

He didn't know that Lindsay had heard about that. "Yes."

"Keep going Danny." said Mac, reassuringly.

Danny nodded, "When I came in today... I went to the evidence locker a- and…" he stuttered, "I found the evidence box. I… took it all." Danny couldn't bare to look up at either of them. "Then I left. I went to an alley about five blocks away and burned it. All of it." He couldn't speak any more. He was to ashamed of what he'd done.

"Everything is going to be alright, Danny." said Lindsay. "We're going to put this bastard behind bars. Mac will make sure that you and I are both kept safe and everything will be figured out." She felt that she should say more, "And you didn't betray anyone. Tommy made you do this. We don't blame you." Gently, she wrapped her arms around him. He leaned his head against her shoulder and sobbed silently.

* * *

After convincing Danny to tell them everything they felt was pertinent, they realized that he was dead on his feet. By the time he had finished speaking, his eyelids had started to droop as the final effect of the alcohol took hold.

"C'mon, Danny," said Mac, hauling the sleepy man up from the sofa, "we'll take you home now." He slung Danny's arm over his shoulder. Lindsay got up and did the same with the other arm.

"Mac," said Lindsay as they walked out the office door. Luckily, very few people were still there, so no one would be able to see Danny in his inebriated state. "Wouldn't it be safer if he stayed with some one else? I mean this guy obviously knows where he lives." She looked at Danny, the concern clear in her eyes. Danny was so out of it, he didn't even notice that they were talking.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." he said. He thought for a moment. "I don't have any extra space at my place, unless he wants to sleep on my couch. Could he stay with you?"

"Of course. I have a guest room he can sleep in."

They managed to practically drag Danny out the door without anyone seeing them. Once they got to Lindsay's car, Mac opened the passenger side door and they both let Danny fall into the seat. Almost immediately, he fell asleep.

Lindsay got into the drivers seat and after saying goodbye to Mac, she drove off.

1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1

I'm actually quite happy with this chapter. Usually, there are two or three sentences that I just don't like the sound of, but I am unable to think of a different way to say them. But not in this chapter. :)

Please review!!!! :) :)


	28. Chapter 28

I really sorry I haven't posted for so long. I regret to say that I don't really have any reason or excuse for the momentary hiatus. Life just got in the way. I'm sure most of you guys know (or remember) how chaotic it is near the end of the year in high school. I will also be updating my other fic, 'Nesasio Coracao' fairly soon as well. My third fic, 'They Don't Know' may remain a one shot, at least for the time being. Once I finish up with these two stories, I may continue with it.

This chapter was kind of difficult to write for me. I don't know why. I guess I'm just better at writing torture scenes.

I hope ya'll like it!

**Chapter Twenty-eight**

The next morning, Danny woke up in an unfamiliar place.

'This is definitely _not_ my apartment', he told himself as he looked around the brightly decorated bedroom. Compared to his own bedroom, it was much nicer, but Danny was still worried about the fact that it wasn't _his_ bed he was currently lying in.

"Shit." He said aloud. He was starting to get worried that Tom had found him again. He quickly scrambled off the bed, falling to the floor with a thud when he got tangled up in the covers.

"Danny?" Danny jumped at the sound of the voice.

'Oh thank God,' he thought, 'It's Lindsay. Wait… Why is Lindsay here?'

Lindsay peeked her head in through the door, "Danny, are you alright? It sounded like you fell."

"Yeah, Linds, I'm fine. Ah… what… what am I doin' here?" He honestly couldn't remember much of what had happened the night before.

"You don't remember what happened yesterday?" she asked.

Danny shook his head.

"What _do_ you remember?"

Danny closed his eyes, trying to recall the last thing he remembered. "Uh… Me an' Mac were… talking. Then I left."

Lindsay sighed. This was going to be difficult. "Danny, yesterday, I found you trying to drown yourself in alcohol. I took you back to the lab. Mac and I got you to our office and we all… talked."

Danny gave Lindsay a suspicious look. "What did we talk about?" he asked. 'Please, God. Tell me I didn't tell them about…'

"You told us everything, Danny. You told us about Tommy and how he threatened me and… about the Thompson case."

Danny bowed his head. He didn't say anything for a few moments. The first thing that came to mind was, "How mad was Mac? Do I still even have a job?"

She was shocked by how desolate he sounded. "Danny, don't be ridiculous! Mac's only concern was you. The way you've been acting has been worrying him. And me… And everyone else too."

Danny scoffed, "Are you trying to tell me Mac wasn't mad? I mean, I _destroyed_ evidence. That's a felony, Linds. I _know_ Mac. There's no way he isn't pissed. I'm surprised he didn't try to _shoot_ me. "

"Okay, he was mad," she admitted, "but… He's just frustrated. And you're _not _going to lose your job. None of this was your fault. Mac said that he would do his best to protect you." Lindsay walked toward the bed slowly and then sat down beside him.

"It ain't me I'm worried about, Montana." He mumbled.

Lindsay smiled, "Mac also said that I would be protected. But he won't be able to help either of us if you don't talk. You told us a lot last night, but it wasn't official. In order for to get this bastard, we'll need to set up an official interview. We'll need to tell at least a few other people. But other than that, we should be able to keep this whole ordeal under wraps."

Danny hesitated. He was restraining himself quite well, but he was actually freaking out. His mind was moving a mile a minute. He was absolutely terrified, but he felt that he should try to stay calm for Lindsay. "Like who?"

"Well," said Lindsay, thoughtfully, "we would need to inform a judge, one that you trust, at least one detective…"

"Flack." Danny said automatically.

Lindsay smiled. She knew how important their friendship was to both of them. "Okay. We'd need to tell a couple lab techs, and then… well, we'd need to tell Sinclair too."

"Damn it. Do we gotta tell him? It doesn't matter if Mac doesn't wanna fire me. Sinclair is gonna torch my ass. He already hates me for that thing with Minhas a few years back."

"Minhas?" she asked, curiously. Linsday had never been told about that incident. Danny sucked in a breath and looked away. "Danny, who's Minhas?"

Still not looking at her, Danny spoke, "Minhas was a cop…" he started.

_*flashback*_

_Danny Messer was out of breath. He had just been knocked back into a wall by a suspect. Despite a slight head injury he was still chasing after the guy. Danny saw the man scramble down the steps and into the subway. He quickly followed suit._

_'Damn,' he thought, 'this guy's fast'._

_Almost as soon as he reached the bottom of the stairs, Danny heard gunshots. Quickly pulling his firearm out of its holster, he dove for cover behind a cement pillar, yelling at the civilians to get down. Bracing his back against the pillar, Danny turned, looking for the suspect only to see him stalking towards him. He fired two shots at the perp. He heard several other shots go off as well. They guy went down._

_Everything was a blur to Danny for several minutes. The adrenaline that had been rushing through his veins only moments ago was now causing his mind to fog over._

_All of a sudden, he was standing next to the body- the man he'd just shot. Another uni was going through his pockets. He pulled out what looked like a wallet, but Danny felt his heart skip a beat when he realized what it really was._

_It was a badge._

_*end flashback*_

Danny sighed loudly, still looking down, "There was this big investigation. I swear, Sinclair didn't care whether or not it had been my bullet or not. He just wanted to see me have my badge taken away."

"Was it your bullet?" asked Lindsay, hesitantly.

"No, turned out Minhas was into some shady dealings and one of his 'business associates' wasn't too happy with 'im." he lifted his head and looked Lindsay in the eye, "But even though I wasn't actually to blame for his death, I don't think Mac has really truly trusted me since then. I was cleared an' everythin', but… it all just really messed everythin' up." Despite his best efforts, Danny was unable to keep the sadness out of his voice. And Lindsay couldn't help but hear it.

"Danny, that's not true," she said, quietly, yet reassuring, "You and I both know that Mac wouldn't allow anyone on his team that he didn't trust implicitly. There may have been a rough patch there for a while, but Mac _does_ trust you. I know that for a fact." She grabbed his hand, trying to provide some semblance of comfort. She could tell that Danny was terrified of what was going to happen next. Whether it was from Sinclair or Tom, Danny knew something was coming and Lindsay could sense his trepidation. "This is all going to work out, Danny. We're going to catch Tom and anyone else that was helping him. We're both going to come out of this okay and you're not going to get fired. Everything will be fine… You believe that, don't you?"

Danny couldn't bring himself to lie to her and say 'yes'.

"I honestly don't know Linds."

1-1-1-1-1-1-1

I promise, there is more action (and torture) to come. This fic is far from over.

Please Review!


	29. Chapter 29

Once again, sorry for the delay...

I hope you all enjoy it!

**Chapter Twenty-nine**

The next day, a mute Danny was led by Lindsay into Mac's office. Once the door was securely locked and the blinds were shut over the transparent walls, Danny took a moment to look around at the people standing in the room. Lindsay stood right behind him a silent pillar of emotional support.

Adam, Stella, and Hawkes were all standing together in front of the couch. They all had grim expressions written across their faces. Despite that, Danny felt the slightest bit of comfort knowing his friends were there to help him.

Flack was standing in the corner. He looked at Danny with a mix of hesitance and reassurance. Once again, Danny felt glad that his best friend was there to support him.

Sitting in one of the chairs was Judge Nicholas Quinn, who wore an unreadable mask. Danny had informed Mac the night before that Quinn was a trustworthy man and had requested that he be the presiding judge.

Sitting in the chair right next to the judge was Chief Sinclair. Danny wasn't sure what to think about that. According to most officers, Sinclair was an alright cop with good morals. But the fact that he had tried to take away his badge only a few years ago made Danny slightly weary of the man.

And sitting at the head of the room, behind the big mahogany desk stood Mac. Like usual, Mac's expression told little about what the man was actually feeling.

The head detective quieted everyone down and began to speak. His gaze was fixed on Danny. "Everyone, I have asked you all down here for a reason. Danny" he gestured toward the slouching investigator, "needs our help..."

Flack, Adam, Stella, and Hawkes all looked at Danny with worried faces. Judge Quinn did the same, except he also looked quite confused. Sinclair snorted derisively.

"What happened, did he shoot another cop?" Danny looked down to his feet at the barbed comment. Lindsay laid a hand on his shoulder. "Why should I- or any of us help him?"

Mac glared at his superior. "I wasn't finished. I was going to say that Danny needs our help... to take down Tanglewood."

Every head in the room snapped up at that statement. Danny looked at Mac, wide-eyed.

"Mac, what are ya-" Mac interrupted him.

"Danny, I've been asking around. This is a lot bigger than you realize."

"But Mac, takin' down Tanglewood would mean takin' down Sonny Sassone. You know how many connections he's got. It's impossible. This is already gonna be dangerous enough."

Everyone else in the room watched the two men talk while they tried to figure out exactly what was going on.

"No, Danny, Sonny's dead. According to my sources, a man only known as Tom has taken over. He's tough, but he has yet to gain all the connections Sonny had. He's vulnerable right now."

Danny looked down again, confusedly, "Sonny's dead?" He was still trying to understand whether that was a good thing or not. 'Tommy took over Tanglewood?' he thought. It was quite a shock.

Mac nodded, "A body hasn't been found yet, but rumors have been drifting around the city. I believe this Tom person you told us about is the same man that has taken over the gang."

Sinclair cut in, "Wait, wait. What does this have to do with Messer? So the gang got a new leader. That happens all the time with every gang. Why does Messer need help?"

Quietly, Mac replied, "Danny knows Tom."

With the exception of Lindsay, Mac, and Danny, every person in the room was bewildered. For the first time since Danny had entered the room, Judge Quinn decided to speak, "Taylor, what the hell is going on here? I've known Messer here since he was a beat cop." he said, pointing to Danny, "Are you trying to tell me all those ridiculous rumors about him being dirty are true?" His voice was incredulous

"No." Danny's voice was barely heard. He cleared his throat and began again. "No, I'm not a dirty cop... I mean... I- I wasn't..." Mac saw that Danny's resolve was breaking and he quickly took over.

"Danny is _not _in collusion with Tanglewood or any other criminals. It was Tom that kidnapped Danny a couple months ago. From what I understand, Tom blackmailed Danny." Danny remained silent. He was sure that they were all going to start yelling at him fairly soon. Mac continued, "Danny was told that if he didn't do what Tom told him to, not only would he be killed, but Detectives Munroe's life would also be at risk."

"What... uh, what was he told to do?" asked Stella, scared of the answer.

Mac took a deep breath before answering, "Danny was told to destroy the evidence for the Thompson case."

Danny started shaking. He had this horrible feeling that he was about to lose his job, be arrested, or lose his closest friends. Maybe all three. His eyes clouded over with tears at the memory of what he had done and the shame that came along with it. Lindsay noticed his distress and looked up to Mac for guidance.

Mac sighed, "Lindsay, take Danny outside to get something to drink."

Lindsay nodded. She took Danny gently by the shoulders and led the desolate investigator out the door, toward the vending machines.

Everyone watched as the trembling man was led away.

"What's wrong with him, Taylor?" asked Sinclair, more gently this time.

Still trying to stay professional, Mac answered, "Two months ago, Danny was abducted." he reiterated. Everyone nodded. They all already knew this. "He was coerced into agreeing to be Tanglewood's newest informant. He was then tortured. After having been missing for four days, Danny was thrown from a moving car and was found in front of the crime lab." Everyone processed the new information they were being given with expressions ranging from shock, to worry, to rage. "After recovering from most of his injuries, Danny was forced to do something that he truly felt was morally wrong. For the past two days, he has been struggling with that decision."

"So..." began Hawkes, "he actually did it? He destroyed all the evidence in the Thompson case?"

Mac closed his eyes, trying to keep himself calm, "Yes, but he had no choice in the matter." He directed his words at Judge Quinn and Chief Sinclair, "You both must understand that Danny was absolutely powerless in this situation. If he had refused, he and Detective Munroe would most likely be dead."

Adam, who had been too nervous to comment up until now, finally spoke, "Mac, I can't speak for Chief Sinclair or Judge Quinn, but you can count on us to do whatever it takes to make sure this guy is caught. We all want Danny and Lindsay safe." Flack, Stella, and Hawkes all nodded in agreement.

Judge Quinn stood and walked up to Mac. "Detective Taylor, you are aware of the fact that I know Danny quite well. I'm sure that's the main reason you asked me here. I'll do everything within my power to make sure Danny gets through this." Mac gave the judge a big grin and the two men shook hands.

Chief Sinclair let out a loud breath and stood up. "Taylor, from what I've seen the past couple years, with the exception of the subway incident, Messer really is a good cop. And I'll be damned if I let an honest man get killed because he was forced into a bad situation." He put out his hand for Mac to shake, "I will also do everything I can to help." Mac's smile grew as he grasped the chief's hand firmly and shook it.

"That's great to hear, sir." He looked over the group of people standing before him. "Okay, everyone, here's the plan…"

**As you may have noticed, I have kind of changed Sinclair's personality for this fic. Just pretend that he really is an alright kind of guy, okay?**

**To me, the last several chapters have seemed kind of dull. There was angst and stuff, it's just that there's been no action. I promise though, that more suspense, action, and drama (and torture) is soon to come.**

**I'm already almost done with the next chapter, so it won't be long until the next post. They same can probably be said about my other two stories.**

**Please Review!**


	30. Chapter 30

It's short, but I'm back to the suspense! (yay!)

I hope you all enjoy it!

**Chapter Thirty-one**

Mac walked out of his office and made his way over to the vending machines. He could see Danny and Lindsay sitting on the bench bench beside them. Danny taking small sips from a bottle of coke.

"Danny, Lindsay," he said, "they've all agreed to help. And we've begun to formulate a plan. Danny, you are going to give us everything you possibly can on Tom Giovinazzo. After that, both you and Lindsay are going to leave the city. We will find you guys a safe place to stay where no one in Tanglewood will ever think to look."

Danny took in this new information silently, still keeping his head down.

"How long, Mac?" asked Lindsay. "How long will we need to stay in hiding?"

"I honestly don't know, Lindsay." He said rather sadly, "But I think you should probably take Danny to his place so that he can pack a few of his things. Then, you should both go to your apartment and pack your own bags. Stay there until Flack or I come to get you."

"Okay." replied Lindsay. She turned and took Danny by shoulder, prompting him to stand up. All of a sudden, Danny had moved forward and enveloped Mac in a tight embrace.

"Thank you." he said, quietly. Then he stepped back.

"Danny," Mac said gently, putting his hands on Danny's shoulders, "You're not just one of my employees, okay? All of us are friends, we're _family. _Family help each other. There is no need to thank me. Do you understand?"

Danny nodded.

Smiling at the sweet exchange, Lindsay once again took Danny by the shoulder and walked him toward the door.

* * *

"Do you want me to come up with you and help you pack?"

Danny looked over from the passenger seat to Lindsay, "No, I'll be fine, Montana. You just stay here, okay? I won't be too long." He smiled at her. He seemed to have come out of the stupor he had been sucked into back at the lab. That didn't mean he wasn't still terrified though.

Lindsay smiled, "Okay, Danny."

Danny unbuckled his seatbelt, opened the door, and hopped out of the car.

He made his way up to his floor. Stepping off the elevator, he walked quickly over to his door and unlocked the door. Danny pushed the door open and walked inside.

Suddenly, there was a beefy arm around his neck and something cold pressed against his temple.

"I heard you been havin' some interestin' conversations with that boss o' yers."

'Oh God, no.' thought Danny. He could feel Tom breathing on the back of his neck.

"Ya hear what I said, Danny-boy? I thought we'd been pretty clear about _not_ doin' that." He pushed the gun harder against Danny's head.

**Please Review!**


	31. Chapter 31

**Hey ya'll! I actually started this right after posting the last chapter, but it's just taken me a while to finish. If anyone's interested, I've also updated my other story, 'Nesasio Coracao'.**

**I hope you all enjoy it! **

**CSI: NY**

**Chapter Thirty-one**

"Sit down, Danny-boy" said Tommy, motioning toward one of the chairs sitting by the window.

He ddin't move from where he was standing. He couldn't seem to make his legs move. "Tommy, please, do whatever ya want to me. Just don't hurt Lindsay. She's got nothin' to do with this." Danny's voice cracked several times as the fear ran rampant through his mind. Tom responded by hitting Danny over the head with the butt of his gun. He fell to the floor.

"I'll be decidin' what we're gonna be doin'." he said angrily. "Now, I said, _sit down_."

Danny began to tremble as he lifted himself from the floor and made his way to the wooden chair. He could feel a small amount of blood trickling down to the back of his neck and soaking into the collar of his previously clean shirt. As soon as he sat down, Tom was behind him, binding his wrists together and then tying them to the back of the chair. Danny winced as he felt the coarse rope bite into his skin. The tightness caused a bolt of pain to shoot through his left wrist. Despite the pain, he kept his mouth clamped tightly shut.

Tom continued to speak as he tied both of Danny's ankles to the legs of the chair, making escape nothing more than a far-fetched dream. "I warned ya, Danno. I warned ya not to screw this up. And what did ya do? You went runnin' to that bastard boss o' yers."

Danny felt the need to defend himself, "No, Tommy, I didn't mean to! It was an accident. I was drunk. I couldn't stop. They made me tell them… Please, I don't care what ya do to me. Beat me, torture me, kill me, just don't hurt Lindsay… please, Tommy." Danny's voice tapered off into a whisper.

Tom remained silent as he finished tying Danny's hands. Danny wanted so badly to look out the window and see if Lindsay was still sitting in her car outside, but he wasn't sure whether or not Tommy knew that Lindsay was waiting for him.

'If I can convince him I came here alone,' thought Danny, 'maybe Montana will have enough time to get away.'

"Heya, Mick!" called Tom, "Get in here, man."

Mick walked out of the kitchen and into the living room, looking like he owned the place. Danny shuddered at the sight of the man that had broken each of the bones in his hand, one by one.

"Yeah, Tom, what do ya want?"

Tom replied with a wicked grin, "Messer's little girlfriend is in the car out front… Go an' get her."

"No! Tommy, please! Just leave her alone." Danny begged.

Mick paused for just a moment at the sound of Danny's pleas, as though he actually pitied Danny. He looked at Tom questioningly.

"Go. Bring her up here." said Tom, his voice cold as ice.

Mick nodded curtly and walked out the door. Danny let his head drop down in defeat so that his chin rested on his chest. The trembling became even more pronounced. He closed his eyes, trying to convince himself that it was all just a horrible nightmare. But when he opened his eyes several minutes later, he understood how real it really was. He watched with tears streaming down from his eyes as he watched Mick roughly drag a struggling Lindsay into the room.

"Get the hell off of me you bastard!" she wriggled around, trying to get out of the larger man's grip. "People know where we are!" she yelled, "They'll come looking for us!"

Mick roughly shoved her into a chair next to Danny. Danny kept his head down in shame, tears still trailing down his face.

'It's my fault she's here.' he told himself. 'God, if I had just kept my mouth shut, none of this woulda happened.'

"Danny?"

His head snapped up at the sound of the soft voice. Lindsay had also been tied securely to the chair. She was looking at him worriedly.

"Are you alright?"

His head was still throbbing and the ropes were still digging into his skin, but he shook his head from side to side in response.

Still terrified, Danny whispered, "Did… did he hurt you?"

She tried to give him a reassuring smile. "No, Danny. I'm fine." She had watched Mick come out of the building and walk toward her car. She hadn't been expecting anything, so she was quite surprised when she suddenly found herself with the barrel of a gun in her face. Mick had ripped open the door and grabbed her arm. He had then dragged a struggling Lindsay back into the building, up the stairs, and into Danny's apartment. She smirked, remembering the punch she had given the hulking man half way up the stairs. It would most likely leave a bruise. He had given her a good slap for that and tightened his hold on her, but Lindsay wasn't going to tell Danny about that.

The blow to the head from earlier was starting to make Danny's mind a little foggy. He let his head fall back down, his chin hitting his chest. He spoke again. "I'm so sorry I got you involved in this, Lindsay. If I had kept my mouth shut-"

Lindsay interrupted, "If you had kept your mouth shut, than you wouldn't be the man that I respect so mush for always doing the right thing." She said this with such force and finality that Danny didn't no how to respond.

Another voice suddenly cut in. "Well, that's very sweet an' all, but I think it's time we got down to business." Tom was standing in the doorway, smiling wickedly at the two detectives.

Lindsay glared at him fiercely, angry that this man could do such horrible things to innocent people. Danny kept his head down, afraid to look at the man that had caused so much pain in his life.

"Mick!" he called again over his shoulder, "Grab the phone. We need to make a call." All the while, the sickening smile remained plastered to his face.

**CSI: NY**

**You may have noticed, along with the usual Danny angst, I also enjoy hostage/kidnap situations... :)**

**Please Review!**


	32. Chapter 32

**Sorry for the long wait. I guess I just wasn't very inspired for a while there...**

**I hope you all enjoy it!**

Mac fell back into his chair with a sigh. He had just finished making the arrangements for Danny and Lindsay. He had made reservations for them at a small bed and breakfast in Albany. It was out of reach for the Tanglewood gang's influence and it looked quite nice. 'It might even be relaxing for them to get away for a while.' thought Mac, 'God knows that if anyone deserves a little relaxation, it's them. Especially Danny.'

After straightening out the papers and files on his desk and making sure that everything was in order, Mac grabbed his jacket and started for the door.

His efforts were halted when the phone on his desk began to ring. Mac grimaced.

'Damn it,' he thought, walking back to his desk, 'I want to get Danny and Lindsay out of town as soon as possible. This had better be important.' He grabbed the phone and brought it to his ear.

"Taylor." he answered, not bothering to hide his impatience.

"Ah! Detective Taylor! I been wantin' to talk to ya for a while now."

Mac grew instantly suspicious. Not only had the man not identified himself, but the way that he spoke just seemed too confident, too smooth to be trustworthy. He looked down to see the caller ID.

The call was coming from Danny's apartment.

"Who is this?" he asked.

"Oh well, names aren't really important right now... but I guess you can call me Tom."

Mac's blood went cold upon hearing that. Could this be the same Tom that had kidnapped and tortured Danny? The same man who had threatened the younger detective with bodily harm if he didn't do as he was told? The same man that had also threatened Lindsay? Mac's jaw clenched in anger.

Tom began talking once again, "So, Taylor, here's what's goin' on." his voice was so smooth and arrogant that it almost made Mac sick, "I have here two o' yer detectives. Now, Danny-boy an' me had this little agreement, but of course, he had to go an' screw that all to hell. So now, we're movin' on to plan B. Now that you an' yer cop buddies know my identity, I gotta get outta town. I want two million dollars, a car with a full tank of gas and a clear way to the airport, or we'll kill Messer and his little girlfriend. Ya got six hours."

Mac didn't get an opportunity to respond or to ask any questions before he heard the line go dead. He slammed the reciever back down into its cradle in anger. He immediately picked it back up and dialed the first number that came to mind. He held his breath as he listened to it ring.

"Stella Bonesara."

"Stella! I need you to call the whole team. Lindsay and Danny are in trouble. I just got a phone call from Tom. He's taken them both hostage." Mac was nearly yelling into the receiver.

"What?" Stella sounded just as worried as Mac felt. "Do we know where they're being held? Have any demands been made? What about proof of life?"

Mac closed his eyes, trying to calm himself as he spoke, "I will explain everything I know, but first, I need you to get everyone together in my office. I need to contact Sinclair and Judge Quinn."

"I'm on it, Mac" said Stella. The determination in her voice was clear.

* * *

Lindsay and Danny both watched in muted fear and disgust as they began to understand Tom's new plan of action.

Tom ended the phone call and turned to look at Danny, a malicious grin plastered on his face. "Ya see, Danny-boy, you screwed up big time. And you _will_ face the consequences. But me an' Mick are gonna need some cash so that we can get outta town." He explained pointing behind him in the general direction of his accomplice. "Now we jus' gotta wait..." His eyes traveled slightly to the side and landed on Lindsay.

Danny's muscles tensed and Lindsay felt a shudder travel through her body at the lust that was present in Tom's eyes.

"I guess we're gonna have to find somethin' to do 'til yer boss gets the money, won't we?"

**Please Review! :)**


End file.
